The Mercer baseball team could not come up with the clutch hit late in the game Friday evening, stranding six runners over the final three innings to fall 2-1 to Kennesaw State in the Atlantic Sun Conference opener for both squads at Claude Smith Field.
KSU (12-9, 1-0) jumped on the board in the third inning when Cornell Nixon lined a single to left, but an error by Nate Moorhouse allowed Nixon to scamper around to third with just one out. Kal Simmons promptly followed with a groundout to bring home the first run of the game and give the Owls an early lead.
Moorhouse made up for his third-inning miscue when led off the fourth frame with a double to left center and later came around to score on a double play to knot the score 1-1.
The Owls played small ball in the fifth inning and quickly regained the lead when Alex Liquori singled to lead off the frame, and after a sacrifice bunt and groundout, Nixon guided a seeing-eye single through the left side to give KSU the lead right back at 2-1.
The Bears (14-6, 0-1) had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the last of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and just one out, but a pair of pinch hitters were called on and both came up empty as Danny Edgeworth went down swinging and Nathaniel Lowe flew out to left to end the threat.
Mercer had another chance to knot the score in the eighth inning, but Chesny Young flied out to strand Derrick Workman just 90 feet away. Robert Sanchez managed a two-out single in the ninth, but the Owls escaped with the 2-1 series-opening victory.
Travis Bergen (2-3) earned the win for the Owls in 6.0 innings of work, giving up four hits and one run, while walking one and striking out six. Just McCalvin came on to record the three-inning save, facing 13 batters and allowing just two hits.
Ryan Askew (1-3) was the tough-luck loser, allowing five hits and one earned run in 7.1 innings of work, while Stephen Glaze and Morgan Pittman posted successful outings out of the bullpen.
Michael Massi finished the game a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish and reached base four times, but the Bears managed just six total hits in the loss.
Due to expected inclement weather on Sunday, Mercer and Kennesaw State will wrap up the series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. at Claude Smith Field.
