Friday's Daily News 'n Notes: Scoreboard; Mercer, Bacon; Stratford's Avant; Hawks; NBA, MLB, more

May 29, 2021 Central Georgia Sports Report

Friday’s Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

SCOREBOARD

High school coaches should send box scores and/or game information to centralgasports@gmail.com within 30 minutes of completion for expanded coverage. The more info provided, the more info to give people.

College
Baseball
Southern Conference: Wofford 8, Mercer 7

Golf

NCAA men’s championship, first round, Georgia Tech (tied 17th), Georgia (tied 19th)

Softball
College

Super Regional: Georgia 4, Florida 0

Summer

Baseball

Florence 11, Macon 2

Pro
MLB

Atlanta at NY Mets, ppd

NBA

Atlanta 105, New York 94

📰 📰 📰 📰

Signings

Alumni Update

Stratford’s Avant leads UGA to Super Regional win in Gainesville

Around/About Central Georgia

Two conference tournament games, two walk-off losses for Mercer

Less than 24 hours apart, Mercer lost a pair of games on walk-off homers.

Thursday night, Samford did it, overcoming a 7-6 Mercer lead after seven. Friday afternoon, it was Wofford, which trailed Mercer 7-6 after seven.

The Terriers got a two-out solo shot down the right-field line from John Dempsey for an 8-7 win over Mercer in an elimination game of the Southern Conference Tournament in Greenville, S.C.

Mercer’s season ends at 35-22 with its first 0-2 trip to the Southern Conference tournament, after winning it in the Bears’ first SoCon season, 2015. Mercer went 1-2 in 2017, the only other time they haven’t won at least two games.

The Bears’ last 0-2 conference tournament was in 2014 in their final year in the Atlantic Sun when they lost 7-5 in 10 innings to Stetson and 7-1 to ETSU.

On Thursday, the Bears overcame a 6-4 deficit for a 7-6 lead through seven, and gave up two in the eighth and ninth innings, the game ending on a one-out, two-run walk-off homer.

On Friday, the Bears and Terriers battled on offense early, Mercer taking a 7-3 lead after four. Woford scored three in the sixth and added single runs in the eighth and ninth, with the two-out walk-off bomb.

Mercer’s bats were quieted in the final five innings Friday, stranding three runners in that span.

Angelo DeSpigna went 3 for 5 for Mercer, Bill Knight and Colby Thomas each with two hits.

The Bears entered Friday last in the conference with 70 homers allowed and fourth with a 5.20 ERA.

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Florence hammers Macon in home debut

Florence took control early with a 9-0 lead after three en route to an 11-2 win over Macon in the Bacon’s home opener in Coastal Plain League action.

Kyle McShaffrey drove in four runs on two hits for Florence, which scored four unearned runs and had three triples.

Brandon Bellflower (John Milledge/Georgia) and Trippe Moore (Mary Persons/Georgia) had Macon’s RBI.

Macon hosts Savannah Saturday night.

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Young’s double-double leads Hawks

Key Knicks come up short