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Bears hammer Catamounts in SoCon Tourney

Mercer's bats paved the way for another big win in the SoCon Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Fifth-seeded Mercer vaulted itself into the winner’s bracket semifinal of the Southern Conference Championship with a 15-0 defeat of No. 9 Western Carolina on Thursday at Fluor Field.

The Bears (37-20) needed just seven innings to best the tournament’s Cinderella team on Thursday after Western Carolina (9-46) had upended No. 8 The Citadel and top-seeded UNCG over the past two days.

Mercer scored in each of the three innings and claimed a six-run advantage and never looked back. Jackson Ware’s torrid start to the tournament continued with a two-run single in the first inning. The Bears then turned to small ball with four sacrifice bunts over the following two innings; Alex Hanson and Le Bassett both laid down safety squeeze bunts to score JT Thomas and Trey Truitt in the second and third innings, respectively.

The six-run cushion provided Christian Vann with plenty of room to work with in his 11th start on the mound. Vann escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third after Western Carolina loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Mercer caught a break as the Catamounts’ Will Prater was called out while advancing to third base when he was hit by Luke Robinson’s hit to the left-side. Bryson Parks was stranded at third base because of the dead-ball call, keeping Vann unscathed.

Vann (5-3) went 5.1 innings to earn the win before turning it over to Robert Broom and Nick Spear, who combined for the final 1.2 frames in relief.

The Bears play again at Noon on Saturday in the Winner's Bracket Semi-final.

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