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Mercer Baseball: Bats Go Cold, and Bears are Swept for First time in SoCon

The bats continued to struggle in the series finale as the Bears were swept by Samford.
Credit: Mercer University
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mercer dropped a Southern Conference series finale, 4-0, to Samford on Sunday at Joe Lee Griffin Field after struggling offensively for the third time in three games this weekend.

Four Bears combined to allow one hit over 4.2 innings of relief out of the bullpen, but offensive woes led to Mercer (26-12, 6-6 SoCon) being on the wrong end of a weekend series sweep for the first time since March of the 2016 season. Samford, meanwhile, improved to 23-14 (10-2) with its 12th straight win and third consecutive SoCon series sweep.

Mercer had five baserunners throughout the contest; Trey Truitt, Jackson Ware, Drew Lingo and Jordan Ammons all collected singles while Le Bassett reached on a fielding error. Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Mercer’s best offensive threat came when Truitt reached third base following a sacrifice bunt and groundout to the right side of the infield, but he was stranded with a strikeout.

A leadoff home run by Branden Fryman off Mercer starting pitcher Christian Vann set the tone for the Bulldogs. Samford’s leadoff man came through again in the fourth with a RBI single before a pivotal fielding error in left field by Mercer helped the Bulldogs add their third and fourth runs.

Lingo and Ammons collected their hits in the ninth and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch before a game-ending strikeout left them stranded.

Mercer was last swept in a three-game weekend series by College of Charleston on March 11-13, 2016. The Bears had never been swept in a three-game SoCon series before this weekend.

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