ATLANTA- Senior Brandon Williams doubled twice and two other Panthers had two hits apiece but the Georgia State baseball team was out-hit by Mercer, 16-12, Wednesday night in a 12-5 loss at the GSU Baseball Complex.
The Panthers (14-20) fell to 12-7 on the year at home with the loss, the second of the year to the Bears (21-14). GSU had been 9-5 when belting double-digit hits this season.
Panther reliever Jerry Stuckey had a career-best six strikeouts over 3.1 innings in relief of starter Caleb Gore (0-2). Mercer used six pitchers and starter David Randall's (2-3) scoreless inning was enough to earn the win on the designated staff day.
Scott Sarratt and Greg Bowder also belted two hits each for GSU while Williams' pair of doubles were the six and seventh of the season for the Panther senior, tying him for the team high.
The Bears pushed five runs across in the first inning, as Mercer's Logan Gaines knocked his team-leading 11th homer of the season.
Drew Shields put the Panthers on the board in the third with an RBI single through the left side to score Roy Seltenrijch from second. Williams then scored Shields with his second double of the game to make it 5-2.
After the Bears pushed four runs across in the fourth, GSU put together four straight hits to start the bottom of the inning. Sarratt scored Gabe Shivers on an RBI single and Daniel Blaustein brought home Landon Bennett with a single of his own, making it 9-4. Bowder's second hit of the day scored Sarratt as GSU cut the deficit to 9-5.
The Panthers would not score past the fourth inning however as Mercer reliever Morgan Pittman's eight strikeouts kept the GSU bats in check.
Mercer scored three insurance runs in the seventh inning and the Panthers were not able to draw any closer in the 12-5 defeat.
First-year relievers T.J. Sullivan, Travis Lee and Jason Boulais combined for 2.1 scoreless innings on the back end as Boulais set a personal best with three strikeouts in his lone inning of work.
The Panthers return to action Friday by starting a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series with the William & Mary Tribe (23-13, 8-7 CAA) at 6 p.m. at the GSU Baseball Complex.
