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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The No. 28 Mercer University baseball team captured its first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title on Saturday with a 13-4 victory over Northern Kentucky University at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Saturday's action also marked the final game in the careers of NKU players
Blake Bagshaw,
Chuck Calhoun,
Tim Clark,
Brad Clement,
Mike Derby,
Luke Greene,
Pat Hyde,
Brett Loeding,
Bradley Vanderglas and
Brandon Wood. They were honored in a ceremony prior to the first pitch.
Mercer (42-14 overall, 20-7 in the A-Sun) took a 3-0 lead in the first and added a run on an RBI single by Sasha LaGarde the following inning. The Bears scored three more in the third to take a 7-0 lead before NKU (8-47 overall, 3-24 in the A-Sun) put runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth.
Logan Spurlin drew a walk to spark the Norse offense and advanced to third on a two-out double to center by Hyde. A single to left field by Greene brought Spurlin and Hyde home to cut the Mercer lead to 7-2.
Chesny Young, the NCAA Division I leader in hits, added his first RBI of the game with a single up the middle to drive in Boyd in the fifth, and a two-run home run over the left-field wall by Austin Barrett in top of the eighth made it a 10-2 game.
NKU chipped away at the deficit in the bottom of the inning. Wood sent a one-out single up the middle and was replaced by pinch-runner
Ryan Hinz. After a strikeout, Greene doubled to bring Hinz home.
Three runs in the top of the ninth inning extended the Bears' advantage to 13-3, but the Norse added a run in the bottom of the frame on a Clement double down the right-field line to score
Caleb Lonkard for the final margin of the game.
Barrett, who also homered in the first game of the series against NKU, led the Bears offense with a 4-for-6 performance. He knocked in four runs and scored twice, while Young finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored. Ten different Mercer players accounted for the Bears' 20 hits, including three from Nick Backlund.
D.J. Johnson (7-2) allowed two runs on seven hits over five innings of work for the win, and he recorded four strikeouts and one walk.
NKU's 13 total hits on the day tied the season high for a nine-inning contest this year. The Norse also collected 13 hits last week against Stetson.
Greene finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Norse offense in his final appearance, while Bradley finished 2-for-4. Clement and Hyde each added a double, while Wood also recorded a hit on the day.
Quint Heady went 3-for-5, and
Anthony Vagnier ended his freshman season with a 2-for-4 performance.
Derby finished with three strikeouts in three innings of relief for the Norse.
Clement's double allowed him to finish with 205 career hits at NKU, and he moved into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time hit list. He also finished in eighth place on NKU's career RBI list with 130.
