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5/24/2007 - BASEBALL
Tucker, Wiley Power Belmont to Victory
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DeLand, Fla. - The No. 3 seed Belmont Bruins beat the No. 2 seed Mercer Bears 4-3 in 10 innings in the battle of unbeatens in the final game of day two of the 2007 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship presented by Progress Energy. Derek Wiley doubled home Ben Petsch in the top of the 10th inning against Cory Gearrin to give the Bruins the lead. Wilson Tucker invoked images from The Natural when his three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning off Mercer's Cory Gearrin knocked the lights out, literally. Before the bottom of the seventh began, the power went out at Melching Field at Conrad Park. It was the second delay of the game, the first caused by rain. Both delays were 25 minutes long. John Daugherty stole the title of hero from Tucker with a two-out pinch-hit single to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth sending the game to extra innings.
Belmont advances to game nine at 7 p.m. on Friday and will await the winner of Stetson/Mercer. A Belmont victory Friday night will send them into the championship round. Mercer will play at 11 a.m. on Friday against the No. 1 seeded Hatters in an elimination game for both teams.
Mercer and Belmont went into a 25 minute rain delay in the bottom of the fourth inning in a scoreless tie. Blake Quarles had thrown four two-hit innings for the Bears. Carlo Testa went into the rain delay with 3.1 innings of one-hit ball and two strikeouts under his belt. He then retired Mike Armstrong and Tyler Brown on groundouts once play resumed.
Belmont's Matt Reynolds earned a walk in the top of the fifth, but was picked off by Quarles. Freshman Packy Elkins flied out to end the inning. Steve Karwatt walked for Mercer in the bottom of the fifth, but was doubled up when John Dortch popped out on a bunt attempt. Through five innings the two teams had combined for six base runners, one which reached on a Belmont error.
Wilson Tucker led off the Bruins sixth inning with a fly out, which was followed by a Ben Petsch walk. After a Derek Wiley strikeout, Kane Simmons singled to right field and Daniel Wagner singled to load the bases with two outs for Brady Manifold. Blake Quarles came up with his third strikeout of the night with Manifold swinging leaving three Bruins stranded.
Matt Crawford doubled down the left field line with one out giving the Bears a runner in scoring position., It was Mercer's first hit since the first inning. Eric Renfroe followed Crawford's hit with a single to center, advancing Crawford to third base. The Bears scored the first run of the game on a Josh Thompson sacrifice fly to right field, driving in Crawford. It was Thompson's 51st RBI of the season. Mike Armstrong delivered the big hit of the inning knocking an RBI double over Ben Petsch's head in left field giving the Bears a 2-0 lead. Tyler Brown grounded out to second base to end the inning.
Blake Quarles strong outing ended after walking the leadoff batter, Brandon McCall, in the seventh inning. Mercer's closer and first team all-conference selection, Cory Gearrin, relieved Quarles. Gearrin has two appearances of at least three innings in 2007. He did not allow a run in either of those outings.
Blake Quarles pitched six innings allowing one earned run, striking out four and walking three.
The first batter Gearrin faced, Matt Reynolds, hit a fielder's choice up the middle. Packy Elkins followed with an infield single. Wilson Tucker supplied the big hit for the Bruins blasting the ball over the left field fence to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead. Ben Petsch grounded out and Derek Wiley flied out to end the inning, but not before the damage was done.
Tucker's blast brought about memories from The Natural. The movie's climatic scene features Roy Hobbs hitting a home run into the lights and sparks started to fly. Tonight's power problems were not made for Hollywood though. The lights went out before the bottom of the seventh inning and put the game in a 25 minute power outage delay.
When play resumed, Ben Meador relieved Carlo Testa to start the bottom of the seventh inning. The first batter Meador faced, Billy Shaughnessy, reached on an error. Meador followed that by striking out Steven Karwatt and inducing John Dortch into a fly out to right field. Michael Langley fouled out to the catcher to end the inning.
Carlo Testa pitched six innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits. He struck out two batters.
Matt Crawford led off the Mercer eighth with a walk against Ben Meador. Eric Renfroe flew out to right for the first out of the inning. Crawford stole second on a swinging strike by Josh Thompson. Meador got Thompson swinging again for the second out of the inning. Meador finished the inning by striking out Mike Armstrong to preserve the Bruins 3-2 lead through eight innings.
Meador went two innings for the Bruins striking out three and allowing zero hits.
Chris Manning came into pitch the final inning for Belmont earning but blew the save opportunity when John Daughtery hit a pinch-hit rbi single to tie the game, sending it to extra innings.
Ben Petsch walked with one out in the 10th inning and stole second base. Derek Wiley shot a double down the right field line, bringing Petsch home giving Belmont a 4-3 lead. Cory Gearrin went 4 innings for the Bears in the losing effort allowing 3 earned runs.
Manning, after blowing the save, stayed in the game to collect his third win of the season.
Belmont has won two A-Sun tournament games in a single tournament for the first time in their school history. In their only other appearance in 2003, the Bruins won their first game, only to lose the next two. Eventual champion Jacksonville eliminated the Bruins.
Belmont improves their all-time tournament record to 3-2. Mercer drops to 25-16.
