Baylor Baseball Drops Saturday Contest to Mercer, 7-4

WACO, Texas – Baylor Baseball (5-10) dropped Saturday’s contest to Mercer (11-5), 7-4, at Baylor Ballpark.

In the loss, freshman INF Kolby Branch extended his on-base streak to 15 games, and sophomore 1B John Ceccoli went 3-4 with his second home run in two days.

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Sophomore Mason Marriott allowed 6 ER and 6 H in 3 IP on Saturday.

Sophomore Mason Marriott started on the bump for the Bears Saturday. After picking up two quick outs in the top of the first, Marriott proceeded to allow the next seven batters to reach base.

Mercer put up four quick runs before the Baylor offense even saw the field. 

“It’s frustrating for everyone,” coach Mitch Thompson said after the game when talking about the team’s struggle to close out innings.

“I think they are pressing. They are getting in their head and worried about making a mistake. You can’t compete when you are doing that … I feel like when those things happen, we lose our attack. We lose our go-get-’em. I think that’s a bit of a recurring factor from the night before, and I don’t think the night before should have any indication on today.”

Despite being BU’s most consistent starting pitcher so far this season, Marriott struggled against Mercer and finished giving up six earned runs and six hits in three innings pitched.

In the bottom of the fourth, junior 3B Will Pendergrass lined a double into the left-centerfield gap to score Ceccoli and give Baylor its second run.

Freshman LHP Ethan Calder came out of the bullpen and tossed three solid innings of work, striking out two and allowing only one earned run. Junior RHP Grant Golomb added three scoreless frames of his own and struck out five.

In the seventh, junior CF Kobe Andrade lined an RBI double down the right-field line to close the Mercer lead to 7-3. Andrade has 14 hits on the season, and 10 of those have been for extra bases.

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Baylor’s offense struck out 12 times on Saturday. Sophomore DH Casen Neumann has struck out in 12 of his 15 at-bats to start the season.

An inning later, Ceccoli hit a towering solo shot over the right-field wall for his third home run of the season, but the Bears could not complete the late comeback.

Despite eight hits on the afternoon, Baylor’s offense struck out twelve times and left six runners on base. Two games into the series, Mercer has outhit BU 22-12.

“We’ve got too many spots in the lineup that are wishy-washy,” Thompson said after the game. “It’s hard for me to figure out how to do juggle it. Who’s going to be here today? Who’s going to really compete well for us today? … We’ve gotten too many at-bats where we are giving up easy outs and not really competitive at-bats, and we’re trying to learn from it.” 

Final: Mercer 7 - Baylor 4

W: Ryan Lobus (2-1) L: Mason Marriott (0-2)

POTG: John Ceccoli 3-4, HR, RBI, 2 R

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor Baseball (5-10) will finish its series against Mercer (11-5) at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Baylor Ballpark.