Mercer baseball’s rally comes up short in 8-7 loss at Georgia State

ATLANTA, Ga. (MERCER RELEASE) – The Mercer baseball team dropped its first mid-week game of the 2014 season following a tough 7-6 road loss at Georgia State on Wednesday evening at the GSU Baseball Complex.

Mercer’s (27-8) seven-game winning streak is now over as the Bears took a loss for just the second time in their last 15 games.

The Bears pitching staff allowed six or more runs for just the sixth time this season while offensively Mercer left 11 men on base in the loss.

Senior Michael Massi starred with the bat once again on Wednesday night, producing his second four-hit game in a row by going 4-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI.
After two scoreless innings of play, Mercer lit up the scoreboard first in the top of the third inning. RBI singles by Massi and senior Nick Backlund pushed the Bears out to a 2-0 lead.

Massi continued his hot hitting in the top of the fourth when he collected his seventh hit in his last eight at-bats when he guided an RBI single through the left side of the Georgia State infield to give the Bears a 3-0 advantage.

Georgia State jumped on the board in the bottom half of the fourth against Mercer starter Ryan Askew when a solo home run to left field from Matt Rose and an RBI single by Zach Moon made the score 3-2.

The Panthers bats kept at it and rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fifth using an RBI single by James Clements and a grand slam by Chase Raffield to make the score 7-3 Georgia State.

Down 7-4, Mercer kept fighting using a bases loaded walk by freshman Matt Meeder and an RBI groundout by senior Sasha LaGarde in the top of the seventh to cut Georgia State’s lead down to 7-6.

That is the way things would stay until the Bears came up to bat in the top of the ninth. A pinch-hit leadoff single by freshman Nathaniel Lowe was eventually followed up by an RBI single by classmate Kyle Lewis to tie the game up at 7-7.

Georgia State would end up having the last laugh, however, coming right back in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single up the middle by Caden Bailey to walk off with an 8-7 win.

Junior Chesny Young finished 0-for-5 on the evening to end his team-high 14-game hitting streak.

Mercer returns to Atlantic Sun Conference play this weekend when it travels to Nashville for a three-game series with Lipscomb starting on April 11 at Dugan Field.