Lucas Mahlstadt induced a ninth inning ground ball to first off the bat of Ty Dalley, with runners on the corners and two outs in a two-run game, as Wofford closed out a 16-14 win over Mercer Thursday night to earn a second victory on the day at the Southern Conference Tournament at Greenville’s Fluor Field.
Wofford scored at least two runs in five of the first six innings in building leads of 13-6 and 15-10 over the Bears, who swept them in Spartanburg two weekends ago.
Bryce Martinzez’ RBI double in the top of the ninth, his fourth hit of the game, provided a big insurance run, making the score 16-13 at the time before the Bears pushed a run across in the bottom half on a Blake Schmitt two-out, RBI single.
Wofford (39-17) faces Samford at 4pm Friday in a winner’s bracket game in a revamped SoCon Tourney format, the result of a poor weekend weather forecast, that was announced Wednesday night.
Earlier in the day, SoCon Player Of The Year Ryan Galanie’s two-run homer in the third, his 17th of the season, got the scoring started in a 6-1 win over UNCG.
Senior Matthew Marchal pitched a complete game, three-hitter, striking out a career high 15.
