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Samford University Athletics

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Hunter Swilling vs Furman, 2015
Hunter Swilling hit his 16th home run of the season Friday night at Mercer.
5
Samford SAM 28-24, 13-10 SoCon
8
Winner Mercer MER 31-20, 16-6 SoCon
Samford SAM
28-24, 13-10 SoCon
5
Final
8
Mercer MER
31-20, 16-6 SoCon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Samford SAM 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 5 10 0
Mercer MER 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 3 X 8 9 1

W: Dimitri Kourtis (3-1) L: Belcher, Mikel (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Joey Mullins

Baseball Falls At Mercer Friday Evening

MACON, Ga. – Mercer scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 5-5 tie on its way to an 8-5 win over the Samford baseball team in the second game of a Southern Conference series Friday night at Clade Smith Field.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 28-24 overall and 13-10 in Southern Conference play. Mercer secures the outright SoCon regular-season title as the Bears improve to 31-20 overall and 16-6 in league games.
 
Offensively for Samford, Hunter Swilling went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and one RBI. Swilling's home run was his 16th of the season, and Samford's nation-leading 72nd homer of the season. Austin Edens went 2-for-4 with one RBI, while Richard Greene went 2-for-3 at the plate. Samford's Mikel Belcher (0-1) pitched 1.1 innings in relief, giving up two runs on no hits to take the loss for the Bulldogs.
 
Mercer was led by Nate Moorhouse, going 2-for-3 with a home run and one RBI. Kyle Lewis and Jackson Ware also homered in the game for the Bears. Dimitri Kourtis (3-1) pitched 2.0 hitless innings in relief to earn the win on the mound for Mercer.
 
The teams entered the bottom of the eighth inning tied at 5-5. With one out, Ware was hit by a pitch, Moorhouse walked and Howard Joe walked to load the bases. Charlie Madden then doubled to center field to drive in Ware and Moorhouse to give Mercer a 7-5 lead. With two outs, Joe scored on a wild pitch to make the final score 8-5.
 
Samford jumped on top first with a run in the top of the third inning. With two outs in the inning, Swilling hit a home run to right field to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
 
Mercer came back to knot the score at 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning. After Samford retired the first two batters in the inning, Moorhouse hit a solo homer to right field to tie the score.
 
The Bulldogs took the lead again with a run in the top of the fifth inning. T.J. Dixon singled to lead off the inning and then stole second base. After moving to third base on a fly out by Heath Quinn, Dixon scored on a single by Edens for a 2-1 Samford lead.
 
Mercer took its first lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Matt Meeder doubled to drive in the first run of the inning and knot the score at 2-2. Lewis then hit a two-run home run to give the Bears a 4-2 advantage.
 
The Bears pushed their lead to 5-2 with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ware led the inning off with a solo home run to give Mercer a three-run advantage.
 
Samford came back with three runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score at 5-5. With two outs in the inning, Damon Waller singled up the middle. Danny Rodriguez and Greene then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Frankie Navarrete then singled to drive in Waller and Rodriguez to close Samford to within one run of Mercer. Pinch-runner Sam Teague later scored on a Mercer error to tie the score and set the stage for the decisive bottom of the eighth.
 
The teams will conclude their series with a game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (CT). The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The contest can also be viewed online via the SoCon Digital Network at www.socondigitalnetwork.com/samford.
 
 
 
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