The rain delay would not be enough stop to the scoring attack of the Mercer Bears, as they offered the Rattler baseball team a tough defeat by a 19-1 margin Wednesday afternoon at the Moore-Kittles baseball complex.
The Rattlers drop to an early 1-3 on the season, while the Bears move to an impressive 5-1.
The Rattlers suffered their first blowout of the season during the final contest of the two-game series. Florida A&M was largely outdone on offense during the series, as the Bears combined for a dominating 27 runs to the Rattlers’ three.
The Rattlers did show promise on defense, however, as they never committed an error during the series. First year head coach Willie Brown said the team’s lopsided defeat sheds no negative light on its effort during games and that it will have no issues moving forward this weekend.
“The team plays hard,” said Brown. “They’re intense from the time the umpire says ‘play ball’ and until the umpire says ‘games over.’ We will have an intense practice tomorrow to get ready for the weekend series.”
Highlights for the Rattlers were rare during the series, but first-basemen Justin Abney was able to provide one bright spot. Despite the loss, he said the team is only a few adjustments away from competing at a high level.
“We are on the right path, we just got to fine tune a few things, but we will get there,” said Abney, who tallied two hits for FAMU on Wednesday. “We played a very good Mercer team and this was probably the best team we will play all year.”
The Rattlers gave up 21 hits during the final game of the series.
The game never made it to the ninth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule both coaches agreed on prior to the game. The game was suspended during the seventh inning after the Rattlers failed to come within 10 runs.
Junior Reginald Grant said the game’s outcome could be credited to the Bears’ consistent hitting.
“Our pitchers were throwing strikes, but they just had a great hitting day,” Grant said. “We’re coming along as a team. We are getting better with pitching, hitting and fielding.”
FAMU will return to action Saturday, as it will travel to Grambling, La. to take on Grambling State.