College Roundup: Mercer Repeats As SoCon Winner

Strike One: Bears Go Back-to-Back

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Mercer and UNC Greensboro split a doubleheader Thursday, setting up a winner-take-all series finale Friday with the regular season Southern Conference championship on the line.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: lost, 5-4, at (8) Louisiana State

(2) Texas A&M: won, 11-5, vs. (6) Mississippi

(3) Mississippi State: won, 5-1, vs. Arkansas

(4) Miami: postponed at (14) Florida State

(5) Texas Tech: won, 4-2, vs. West Virginia

(6) Mississippi: lost, 11-5, at (2) Texas A&M

(7) Louisville: won, 9-2, at Wake Forest

(8) Louisiana State: won, 5-4, vs. (1) Florida

(9) Virginia: won, 7-6, vs. Virginia Tech

(10) South Carolina: won, 4-2, at Alabama

(11) Tulane: split DH at Houston, lost 3-2 in 13 innings and won 8-4

(12) Vanderbilt: off

(13) Southern Mississippi: lost, 5-2, at Florida International

(14) Florida State: postponed vs. (4) Miami

(15) Texas Christian: won, 2-1, vs. Kansas State

(16) Rice: lost, 4-3, in 15 innings at Louisiana Tech

(17) Florida Atlantic: won, 10-2, vs. Western Kentucky

(18) Cal State Fullerton: lost, 6-3, vs. Hawaii

(19) North Carolina State: lost, 16-4, vs. North Carolina

(20) Oklahoma State: swept DH vs. Kansas, 4-3 and 9-2

(21) Minnesota: won, 4-3, vs. Ohio State

(22) Coastal Carolina: won, 6-5, vs. Campbell

(23) Clemson: won, 11-1, at Notre Dame

(24) Bryant: swept DH at Mount St. Mary’s, 19-1 and 12-1 in seven innings

(25) Long Beach State: won, 6-3, at UC Davis

Mercer, the defending champion and preseason favorite, came out swinging Friday. The Bears scored two runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed, going on to a 9-1 victory to claim another title. It is the first time in program history they have won back-to-back conference championships.

Coach Craig Gibson said the second championship was even more meaningful than the first because the Bears (35-21) had to replace so many important pitchers from last season’s team. The 13th-year coach was also particularly proud of his team for winning 35 games for the seventh straight year.

“It’s been consistency in the program,” he said. “I think we’ve done a good job selecting the right guys and developing guys. I think that goes with Kyle (Lewis). He’s been a great player, but I think we’ve done a good job of putting him in the right place and we’ve had other good players. For this level you’ve got to develop and coach guys.”

Lewis, the reigning SoCon player of the year, has provided Mercer with a star presence in its lineup during its championship seasons. The junior center fielder is in consideration to the Phillies’ choice with the first overall pick in the draft next month and, as usual, there were several scouts watching him Friday. He went 0-for-2 with three walks, and came around to score every time he walked. Lewis’ third walk of the game, an intentional pass in the eighth inning, was his 61st of the season, setting a single-season record for the program.

With UNCG (37-19) working around Lewis, Mercer had an opportunity to show the depth of its lineup. Sophomore Trey Truitt scored twice, junior Charlie Madden went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and junior Hunter Bening went 2-for-5 with a double and a home run.

The beneficiary of all the offense was righthander Kevin Coulter. The freshman stymied the Spartans for eight innings, holding them to one run on seven hits and two walks. After a leadoff single in the fourth inning, he did not allow a hit for the remainder of his outing.

Coulter did not strike out any batters, instead relying on his defense to make plays behind him. He induced 13 groundball outs and took advantage of two double plays to improve to 7-3, 4.81.

Coulter said the key to his smooth transition from high school baseball to pitching in Mercer’s rotation has been throwing a lot of strikes.

“I think the big thing for freshman pitchers, they feel like they’ve got to be perfect,” he said. “You’ve got to trust your stuff and pound the strike zone.”

With its regular season title now successfully defended, Mercer will now attempt to make it back-to-back conference tournament titles as well. The Bears will be the top seed in next week’s SoCon Tournament in Greenville, S.C., and know they have their work cut out for them if they are to return to the NCAA Tournament.

But first, Gibson said the Bears will celebrate their latest championship.

“We’ll take a couple days off and enjoy this for a day,” Gibson said. “We’ll get after it on Monday.”

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Strike Two: Louisiana Tech Outlasts Rice


After routing No. 16 Rice, 12-2, in the series opener, Louisiana Tech was locked in a pitchers’ duel Friday with the perennial Conference USA powerhouse. The game was tied at 1 after nine innings, and the Owls twice took a one-run lead in extras. But both times the Bulldogs responded, tying the game in the 11th inning and then walking off with a 4-3 victory in the 15th.

With the win, Louisiana Tech (36-16) clinched a series win and might have wrapped up an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs saw their RPI climb to 41 according to WarrenNolan.com, and they grabbed the marquee weekend series win their resume had been missing. Louisiana Tech has not made the NCAA tournament since 1987.

The Bulldogs struck first Friday, taking a 1-0 lead in the third. Rice tied the game in the fourth, and then neither team could scratch out another run until the 11th inning. Rice lefthander Blake Fox (8.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K) and Louisiana Tech righthander Casey Sutton (8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K) combined to put zero after zero on the scoreboard.

Rice edged ahead in the 11th when Tristan Gray homered, but Canadian junior Raphael Gladu led off the bottom of the inning with a homer of his own to tie the game back up.

The Owls again took the lead in the 15th when senior Connor Teykl hit what initially looked like a pinch-hit, three-run homer. But the umpires convened and ruled it to be a ground-rule double, allowing one run to score. The Bulldogs escaped the inning without further damage, but were soon down to their final strike with runners on second and third. Chase Lunceford singled to right center, scoring two runs and giving Louisiana Tech the victory.

The loss eliminated Rice (32-19) from the Conference USA race. A wild night in CUSA left Marshall in first place, a half-game ahead of No. 17 Florida Atlantic. No. 13 Southern Mississippi lost at Florida International for the second day in a row, falling a game off the pace.

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Strike Three: SEC Race Comes Down To Final Day

The Southeastern Conference’s heavyweights will go one final round Saturday with the regular season championship on the line. No. 8 Louisiana State defeated No. 1 Florida on Friday, and No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 3 Mississippi State are tied atop the standings at 20-9. They hold a half-game lead on No. 10 South Carolina and a one-game edge on Florida.

Texas A&M (41-12) is trying to win its first regular season championship since joining the SEC for the 2013 season. Mississippi State (39-14-1) last won the conference’s regular season title in 1989.

Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said he expects Saturday to be another tough day in the SEC.

“Nothing comes easy in this league and it hasn’t all year long, but I’m certain tomorrow won’t be easy as well,” Childress said. “We’ll have our hands full with Ole Miss and we’ll get their best shot. But, I expect our guys to come out loose and have fun like we have the first two games.”

Both the Aggies and the Bulldogs will be going for a sweep Saturday in their regular-season finales. Texas A&M has won the first two game of its series against No. 6 Mississippi, claiming Friday’s game, 11-5. Mississippi State clinched its series against Arkansas with a 5-1 victory Friday.

Mississippi State has already matched its program record for SEC wins, set in 1989. That team finished the year with a program-record 54 victories and reached the College World Series. Coach John Cohen was a part of that team as a player. Friday, he won his 600th game as a head coach.

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The Lineup

Griffin Jax, rhp, Air Force: With a shutout in a 1-0 victory against New Mexico, Jax (9 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) extended his scoreless innings streak to 23 and threw his third straight complete game. The junior won his ninth game of the season, the second-most by a Falcons pitcher in program history.

Tyler Peyton, rhp, Iowa: The Hawkeyes on Friday clinched their third straight appearance in the Big Ten Conference Tournament (a program first), with an 8-0 win at Penn State in the first game of their doubleheader. Peyton (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) extended his scoreless innings streak to 23, while improving to 4-5, 4.28 The two-way star also helped himself at the plate, going 1-for-5 with a run and a stolen base.

Chris Falwell, lhp, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: In a 5-0 victory against Incarnate Word, Falwell (9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) was masterful, throwing a one-hitter and facing just two batters over the minimum. The junior threw 103 pitches in his first career complete game, as he improved to 3-5, 2.91.

Alex Call, of, Ball State: In a doubleheader at Northern Illinois, Call went 6-for-10 with a double, two triples and a home run. The junior is hitting .366/.453/.685 with 13 home runs this season.

Gage Canning, of, Arizona State: Canning (4-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI) paced Arizona State’s offense in a 12-4 victory at UCLA, its biggest in the series since 2010. The freshman is hitting .294/.350/.429, and extended his on-base streak to 34 games, the longest for a Sun Devil since 2010.

Micah Coffey, 3b, Minnesota: The Golden Gophers on Friday clinched their first Big Ten Conference regular season championship since 2010, with sophomore Coffey (1-for-3) playing a critical role. No. 21 Minnesota scored four times in the sixth inning to defeat Ohio State, 4-3. Coffey drove in the game-tying run with a triple and then scored the go-ahead run when he came home on a wild pitch.

Eli Morgan, rhp, Gonzaga: With an 8-0 victory at San Diego, Gonzaga clinched at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title. Morgan (9 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K) threw his third shutout in WCC play, and the sophomore improved to 10-1, 3.14.

Donnie Walton, ss, Oklahoma State: In the second game of a doubleheader sweep against Kansas, Walton (4-for-5, HR, 4 RBIs) set a career highs for RBIs and matched his career best for hits. The senior is hitting .351/.446/.474 with three home runs.

Nick Angelini, of, Bryant: The 24th-ranked Bulldogs (44-10) finished their regular season with a doubleheader sweep at Mount St. Mary’s. Freshman Angelini went a combined 5-for-8 with six runs and four RBIs on the day.