University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, March 4
Macon, GA
6 p.m.
UNC Asheville
3-7
5
at
9
Mercer
9-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
UNC Asheville
1
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
0
5
8
2
Mercer
0
3
1
0
1
0
1
3
X
9
7
1
Mercer outlasts Asheville in Friday’s series opener, 9-5
03.04.2022 | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The UNC Asheville baseball team dropped its series opener at Mercer Friday evening by a score of 9-5.
On Friday, Robbie Burnett led the way for Asheville, going 2-for-4 with a home run, which was the first of his collegiate career. Michael Groves reached base three times thanks to a 1-for-2 day at the plate to go with three walks. Dylan Bacot also slugged his second home run of the season, while Dominic Freeberger, Corbin Lanowitz, Cam Johnson, and Grayson Preslar all picked up hits in the contest as well.
Ryan Douglas made his third start of the season on Friday. Douglas worked the first five innings, where he allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits and set a new career-high with eight strikeouts. Justin Honeycutt, Jay Allmer, and JP Perez also logged time on the mound for the Bulldogs.
Asheville started off the game with a bang as Burnett launched his first home run as a Bulldog to right field to spot his team an early 1-0 lead. Mercer, however, quickly answered with three runs in the second, along with single runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings.
The Bulldogs kept battling, though. Bacot connected on his second home run as a Bulldog in the fourth, and the two-run shot got Asheville back within two runs, 5-3. Asheville had a chance to take the lead back in the eighth inning. A pair of walks, an error, and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Bulldogs with just one out. However, the Bears came up with a pair of clutch strikeouts to get out of that jam.
Asheville did threaten again in the ninth as Groves and Johnson collected back-to-back hits to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle. Like it did during the other threats by Asheville, Mercer made some key pitches to avoid the big inning to preserve the win.
The series will resume on Saturday when the Bulldogs and Bears take the field for game two. The first pitch for that contest is set for 2 p.m.
On Friday, Robbie Burnett led the way for Asheville, going 2-for-4 with a home run, which was the first of his collegiate career. Michael Groves reached base three times thanks to a 1-for-2 day at the plate to go with three walks. Dylan Bacot also slugged his second home run of the season, while Dominic Freeberger, Corbin Lanowitz, Cam Johnson, and Grayson Preslar all picked up hits in the contest as well.
Ryan Douglas made his third start of the season on Friday. Douglas worked the first five innings, where he allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits and set a new career-high with eight strikeouts. Justin Honeycutt, Jay Allmer, and JP Perez also logged time on the mound for the Bulldogs.
Asheville started off the game with a bang as Burnett launched his first home run as a Bulldog to right field to spot his team an early 1-0 lead. Mercer, however, quickly answered with three runs in the second, along with single runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings.
The Bulldogs kept battling, though. Bacot connected on his second home run as a Bulldog in the fourth, and the two-run shot got Asheville back within two runs, 5-3. Asheville had a chance to take the lead back in the eighth inning. A pair of walks, an error, and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Bulldogs with just one out. However, the Bears came up with a pair of clutch strikeouts to get out of that jam.
Asheville did threaten again in the ninth as Groves and Johnson collected back-to-back hits to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle. Like it did during the other threats by Asheville, Mercer made some key pitches to avoid the big inning to preserve the win.
The series will resume on Saturday when the Bulldogs and Bears take the field for game two. The first pitch for that contest is set for 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wesley Franklin (2-1)
L: Douglas, Ryan (0-3)
S: Luke Sutko (2)
Batting:
HR: Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1
RBI: Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Burnett, Robbie 2 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Groves, Michael 1 ; Lucas, MJ 1
HBP: Preslar, Grayson 1
Batting:
2B: Colby Thomas 1 ; Treyson Hughes 1
HR: Colby Thomas 1
RBI: Colby Thomas 1 ; Collin Price 2 ; Dominik Ramil 2 ; Treyson Hughes 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Colby Thomas 2 ; Angelo DiSpigna 1 ; Bill Knight 3 ; Collin Price 1 ; Le Bassett 1 ; Treyson Hughes 1
SB: Bill Knight 2
PO: Le Bassett 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ BaseballC/U
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
U
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