MACON, Ga. – The Samford University baseball team closed out its regular season with an impressive 14-3 win over Mercer Saturday afternoon at OrthoGeorgia Park.
 
"This was a total team and complete effort today in all phases," Samford head coach Tony David said. "I'm proud of the guys for bouncing back after two tough losses despite playing really well in both games."
 
With the win, Samford improved its record to 28-25 overall and 13-8 in Southern Conference play. Mercer dropped to 33-23 overall and 12-9 in league play. Samford finished second in the SoCon regular season standings and will be the No. 2 seed in next week's SoCon Tournament.
 
Samford was led at the plate by Jackson Harris, going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and four RBI. Matthew Strand and Cade Carr had three hits and an RBI each. Michael Gupton went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI. Jeffrey Ince went 4-for-6 with a double for the Bulldogs.
 
Mason Blasche (9-0) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. He struck out five batters, while allowing just one walk.
 
"It starts with Mason on the mound," David said. "He just filled up the zone with multiple pitches. Gupton crushed that backside homer to break through, and we got two quick zeros. Then it was just one great at bat after another."
 
For Mercer at the plate, Elly Brown went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Titan Kamaka and Zach Thompson drove in a run each for the Bears. Jackson Gaspard (1-1) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up two runs on six hits to take the loss on the mound for Mercer.
 
Mercer grabbed the lead first with a run in the third inning. Samford, however, took the lead for good in the top of the fifth inning when Gupton hit a two-run homer to right-center field for a 2-1 Bulldog lead.
 
Samford took control of the game with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Harris and Carr both walked with the bases loaded for the first two runs of the inning. Jake Souders drove in the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly. Parker McDonald had an RBI double and Strand had an RBI single as Samford took a 7-1 lead.
 
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kamaka and Thompson both had RBI hits to cut the lead to 7-3. Samford answered with three runs in the eighth inning to make it 10-3. Harris, Carr and Souders each had RBI hits in the eighth for the Bulldogs.
 
In the ninth inning, Samford added four more runs to make the final score 14-3. Gupton drove in the first run of the inning with a sacrifice fly. Harris then hit a three-run home run for the final three runs of the contest.
 
Samford will open play in the Southern Conference Tournament on Friday, May 23 at 11:30 a.m. (CT) at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. Samford will play either The Citadel, UNC Greensboro or Wofford.
 
"Our program loves Greenville and this tournament," David said. "We are excited about this next opportunity."
 
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