May 15, 2012
MACON, Ga. – Mercer rallied with two runs in the eighth inning, and stunned Georgia Tech, 4-3, Tuesday night at Claude Smith Field in Macon, Ga., in the Yellow Jackets final non-conference game of the regular season. Kyle Wren had three hits for Tech.
Daniel Palka’s sacrifice fly gave the visitors a 3-2 lead in the seventh, but it was the Bears who had the final say in the low-scoring affair. Tech slipped to 31-22 overall, and finished with a 20-6 record in non-conference action, while Mercer improved to 34-19 with its 10th win in 11 games.
After a wild pitch allowed Logan Gaines to score the tying run in the eighth, DJ Johnson’s perfectly-executed suicide squeeze scored Nate Moorehouse, who was charging home on the pitch. Both runs were charged to reliever Dusty Isaacs, who faced three batters and recorded one out in the eighth to absorb the loss (5-4).
Wren had three hits and scored twice, and tried to get a ninth-inning rally started by chopping a lead-off single through the right side. But the sophomore was gunned down stealing second by catcher David Reid-Foley, and reliever David Teasley got the final two outs in succession to secure his sixth win (6-0).
Mercer jumped in front 2-0 after the second, but the Yellow Jackets chipped away with an RBI groundout from Jake Davies in the third and a game-tying RBI single from Thomas Smith in the fourth.
Tech loaded the bases with three-consecutive one-out singles in the seventh inning, but Palka’s sacrifice fly to score Wren from third was all the Jackets got.
Freshman Josh Heddinger settled in after his rocky first two innings and allowed four hits and two runs in his five innings of work. Senior Jarrett Didrick gave the Jackets two innings of scoreless relief with a career high four strikeouts.
Tech returns home Thursday to open a three-game series versus Miami at Russ Chandler Stadium. The final ACC series for both teams begins at 7 p.m.
