After close games galore down stretch, Mercer baseball hits its stride heading into SoCon tourney

Winning one game, in any sport, is difficult. Sweeping an opponent — whether in the format of a playoff series or just a regular season matchup — takes another level of play.

Mercer head baseball coach Craig Gibson knew how tall a task a sweep was going into the Bears’ three-game set with rival Samford to wrap up the regular season, but he still hoped his team could pull off the unlikely feat and potentially force a three-way tie atop the Southern Conference.

Alas, Mercer took two out of the three games at home — a very impressive end to the season against a talented Samford squad, but not the all-out dominance the Bears needed to try and shoot for a regular season conference title share.

“Sweeping anyone is hard, and they have a really great team. I think we played really well that series, though, and that shows what kind of team we are,” Gibson said. “Game 3, you just got to tip your hat to their guy, a freshman pitcher who really just came in and got the job done. That kept us from the sweep, but it was just a really good series.”

Mercer ended up tied for third in the conference instead, finishing with a record of 12-9 against SoCon opponents and a 33-23 overall mark. Now they have the No. 4 seed in the Southern Conference tournament, which began Wednesday.

The Bears first played Thursday at 3 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 8 VMI and No. 5 Western Carolina, after The Melody went to print. 

“I’ll be honest, I feel really good about it. I like our group,” Gibson said of the tournament. “There weren’t a lot of teams that were playing for something on the last day of the regular season. We could’ve had that one seed, and when you’re in that situation where the last day counts, you know you’ve got something going.”

On paper, the final stretch was not ideal; the Bears went 3-6 in their last nine games starting with a series against Wofford back on May 2. But the wins and losses alone do not represent the brand of baseball Mercer played in those nine games, as the Bears kept it close with powerhouse ACC schools and conference foes alike.

“We played really well against Georgia Tech, only lost by one run. Then two close games against Virginia Tech, then we win the series against Samford. We’re playing well,” Gibson said. “Everything changes in the conference tournament, but we like how we’re looking.”

While Mercer will need to play an extra game since they did not get a top-two seed, Gibson does not see it as a serious problem.

“I think we have plenty of depth on our staff to cover that extra game… we’re going to start Jeb Johnson in Game 1,” he said. “He’s pitched well for us down the stretch and the last time he faced these teams… and he pitched pretty well against that team down in Tallahassee that’s ranked No. 5 in the country. We got a lot of faith in him. He’s got that DNA, that makeup to compete.”

Johnson also pitched well against the Yellowjackets, only making a handful of mistakes across six solid innings. 

Mercer will start ace Colton Cosper, who struck out a whopping 11 batters in eight innings to help the Bears win the series opener against Samford last week, in the second game.

Should Mercer win its opener, that second game will be against No. 1 East Tennessee State at 9 a.m. Friday.

“We have experience as a No. 1 seed, as a No. 4 seed, we’ve been all over the bracket in this tournament. We know it’s tough to get it done no matter where you are,” Gibson said. “We just have to come into this bracket playing our best baseball… if we do play (ETSU), we know how hard it is to win the regular season championship and the tournament in one year. We’ve done it before, and that’s really tough.”

Aside from the good team performance against tough competition of late, Mercer has had plenty of individual contributors all season. 

Shortstop Bradley Frye and outfielder Ty Dalley have led the offense, raking all season en route to All-Conference First Team honors along with Cosper on the mound. Second baseman Titan Kamaka earned All-Defensive Team honors, while Collin Ewaldsen got a spot on the All-Freshman team.

“One guy who has been huge for us all season — I think he gets overlooked and he wasn’t even recognized by the conference, is Brant Baughcum,” Gibson said of another key contributor for the Bears. “We thought he was a no-brainer, he’s been so crucial for us.”

Baughcum started all 56 games for Mercer and hit .330 on the year with seven home runs, 44 RBIs and a .937 OPS but was not a member of the All-Conference team in the SoCon.

“Now, the guys are not going to let that completely dominate things, but it can be a motivator. We tell them, (the coaching staff) nominate the players, we don’t pick who it is. We don’t get to vote,” Gibson said. “We also say, hey, you got a week here to show them ‘you should’ve picked me.’”

Other players coming on strong at the end of the season could be difference makers as well. Gibson said Kamaka and veteran Bears first baseman Parker Lester made significant offensive strides as the regular season wrapped up.

The double-elimination tournament began Wednesday. Friday’s tournament slate begins at 9 a.m. with the championship set for noon Sunday.