WHAT HAPPENED: Mercer used eight shutout innings from its bullpen to beat Florida 6-4 Tuesday night in Gainesville.
After the Gators took a 4-1 lead in the first inning, the Bears kept UF off the board the rest of the night.
Mercer took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk but the Gators responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Wil Dalton hit his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot to left. Blake Reese had a RBI single and Austin Langworthy scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1.
The visitors stormed back with three runs in the third inning and tied the game on Le Bassett's two-run double.
Mercer added a run in the fourth for a 5-4 before UF brought in sophomore Andrew Baker, who retired the next 12 batters he faced.
The Bears tacked on another run in the eighth inning off Tyler Dyson, who was making his first relief appearance of the season for the Gators. Sean McDermott's RBI double brought home pinch runner Cory Wright for a 6-4 lead.
Mercer's Robert Broom was the difference in the game, going six shutout innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Andrew Baker – The sophomore had perhaps the best outing of his career on Tuesday night, pitching four scoreless innings and retiring all 12 batters he faced. He struck out three and had just 37 pitches. On the year, he now has a 1.86 earned run average.
STANDOUT STAT: 12 –
Andrew Baker retired all 12 batters he faced Tuesday night.
FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on tonight's game: "We've got to put [tonight] behind us because we've got Casey Mize coming in, that'll be a heck of a matchup between Brady and Mize. Tonight was a little disappointing to be honest with you. We got off to a bad start on the mound, we had two outs in the first on seven pitches and next thing you know we're walking a run in. We missed a pickoff sign to first, there was no pick and we threw it away, then we didn't execute an 0-2 pitch. They went to one of their best relievers -- he's got great numbers -- and he pitched great. He was the difference in the ball game with 12 strikeouts in six innings. The disappointing part is that it's the second game in a row we haven't made very good adjustments in the middle of the game."
On using Tyler Dyson out of the bullpen: "We're going to throw him out of the bullpen this weekend. We'll start
Jack Leftwich on Saturday. But that's not to say it will be like that forever. The bottom line is we've got to get him going, get his confidence back. If he throws like he did tonight this weekend then he's got a chance to get back in the rotation. I'm not foolish, I know that we're going to need Tyler as a starter down the stretch if we're going to do what we want to do at the end of the year, but I think right now getting him out there as much as we can -- twice, maybe three times a week -- to get his confidence going is probably the smartest thing for him. Once he has a couple good outings in a row we'll run him right back out there on the weekend."
UP NEXT: Florida will host No. 22 Auburn for a three-game series starting Thursday night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
Game two will be Friday at 6:30 p.m. and the finale will be Saturday at 2 p.m. All three games will be streamed online through SEC Network+ via the WatchESPN app.
