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MACON, Ga. – The University of Evansville baseball team collected 13 hits, but stranded eight base runners in an 8-3 loss to Mercer Saturday afternoon at Claude Smith Field in Macon, Ga.
 
"It was another tough loss for us, as we had two key errors that led to multiple runs for a really quality opponent," head coach Wes Carroll said.  "You have to credit Mercer for taking advantage of the opportunities that they had at the plate and for us, we just couldn't get that big hit when we needed to either extend an inning or drive in multiple runs."
 
Nine different players tallied at least one hit for Evansville (3-2), including sophomore Shain Showers, who finished the day 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run.  Senior Jake Mahon also homered for the Aces in the loss, while junior Boomer Synek and sophomore Josh Jyawook each finished the afternoon with a pair of hits in four at bats.
 
On the mound, sophomore Connor Strain (0-1) lasted just 3.2 innings, as he allowed two runs, both earned, on five hits, while issuing four walks and striking out one.  Freshman Jimmy Ward was tagged with six runs, four earned, on three hits and a pair of walks in 2.1 innings of relief, while sophomore Alex Gould closed the game by allowing just one hit in a pair of scoreless innings and recorded two strikeouts.
 
Mercer (7-0) took advantage of a leadoff walk to grab a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, as Sasha LaGarde drew a five-pitch free pass to start the inning and later scored on an RBI single off the bat of Derrick Workman.
 
The Bears added another run in their half of the fourth, when LaGarde was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, prompting UE to bring Ward out of the bullpen to relieve Strain.  Ward was about to limit the damage and strand the bases loaded by getting a key groundout to end the fourth, but MU would push across another run on an Evansville error in the fifth to extend its advantage to 3-0 after five complete.
 
Mahon led off the Aces' half of the sixth with a solo blast to get UE on the scoreboard and junior Kevin Kaczmarski scored Evansville's second run of the frame, when Synek drove him in with a two-out single to right, cutting Mercer's lead to 4-2.
 
The Bears answered back in the bottom of the sixth, as Charlie Madden led off the inning by reaching on the Aces' second error of the afternoon and LaGarde followed with a bunt single. After Chesny Young laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position, Nick Backlund drew a one-out walk to load the bases.  Ward responded by striking out Workman for the second out, but Howard Joe capped the inning with a two-out grand slam to give MU an 8-2 lead.
 
The Aces were able to load the bases in the seventh, after Showers and junior Jarod Perry reached on back-to-back singles, before Jyawook coaxed a two-out walk, but Mercer reliever Ben Lumsden ended the threat with a strikeout junior Kyle Pollock.
 
Showers added the final run of the game, when he led off the ninth with a solo homer to left to make the final score 8-3.
 
Joe led the Bears offensively by going 2-for-4 with his grand slam and two runs scored and Michael Messi finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored.  Grant Papelian (1-0) recorded his first win of the year for MU, as he allowed two runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings and struck out five without a walk.
 
"Tomorrow is going to be a big character day for us," Carroll said.  "Hopefully we step back and show early in this young season how we can respond and get a win on Sunday."
 
Evansville will look to avoid the sweep, when it closes the series with Mercer tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m.