May 27, 2018

Box Score

Greenville, S.C. - Fifth-seeded Mercer scored in six of the first seven innings on the way to a 10-2 victory over No. 9 seed Western Carolina on Saturday evening, ending the Catamounts' surprise run through the 2018 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field.

Mercer's Chase Burks delivered eight impressive innings on the mound and Brandon Michie scored four times as the Bears move on to the title game for the third time in four seasons. Mercer (38-21) faces No. 2 seed Samford on Sunday needing two wins to claim the SoCon title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.

The Catamounts (11-47), who picked up more than a third of their seasonal wins in the last five days at the tournament, fell just short in their bid to become just the second-ever No. 9 seed to reach Championship Sunday. Western Carolina topped No. 8 seed The Citadel, No. 6 seed ETSU and No. 1 seed UNCG twice but could not figure out the Bears, who handed the Catamounts both of their losses in the tournament.

Leading 1-0 after a run scored on an error in the first, Mercer plated the eventual winning run in the third inning as Alex Hanson scored on a wild pitch before Michie scored on a Jackson Ware sacrifice bunt. The Bears added single runs in the fourth and fifth before blowing the game open with four in the sixth, highlighted by Trey Truitt's two-run double. Two more runs scored on an error to make it 9-0.

Western Carolina got on the board with a two-run seventh, as Luke Robinson and Justin Sparks knocked consecutive two-out RBI singles as a part of four-straight base hits. The runs were the first for WCU against Mercer which was blanked, 15-0, in seven innings earlier in the week.

Mercer got a run back in the bottom half on RJ Yeager's sacrifice fly to deep right center to account for the final margin.

Michie was 2-for-4 for the Bears' only multi-hit game, while Will Prater and Cameron Blaquiere were both 3-for-5 to pace Western Carolina, which out-hit Mercer 10-to-7 but committed five errors on the day, leading to six unearned runs. The Bears were 1-for-14 (.071) with runners in scoring position, but were aided by WCU miscues and freebies that included five walks, a hit batter, and five wild pitches.

WCU's other four hits were scattered between four batters with singles from sophomores Luke Robinson and Justin Sparks, redshirt junior Matthew Koehler, and freshman Bryson Parks. All told, the Catamounts stranded 11 runners on base.

Burks allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks, striking out nine in his eight innings of work to improve to 6-5 on the year.

Western Carolina left-hander Taylor Purus, who earned the save in the Catamounts' win over UNCG earlier in the day, took the loss, falling to 3-13 on the season by allowing one unearned run on two hits in two innings of work. Purus was the first of four pitchers to toe the rubber for WCU with Blake Therrian tossing a third of an inning before senior Jake Niezen tossed two and 2/3 innings allowing three runs -- only one of which was earned -- on three hits. Junior Tristan Baker tossed the final three innings, making his fourth relief appearance of the week, striking out four while allowing four runs -- one earned -- on two hits with three walks.

Saturday night's loss saw the end of the WCU careers of six seniors including infielder Cameron Blaquiere; catcher Spencer Holcomb, who missed just his second game of the season due to a hand injury suffered against UNCG; infielder Caleb Robinson; right-handed pitcher Dylan Biumi; right-handed pitcher Jake Niezen; and left-handed pitcher, Corey Sikes.