Macon, Ga. – Mercer rallied from a 4-0 deficit to force extra innings and claimed a 5-4 victory over Furman in nine innings on Sunday afternoon at Sikes Field in Macon, Ga.
 
The victory gave Mercer the three-game series sweep and improved the Bears to 18-19 overall and 7-2 in Southern Conference play. The Paladins dipped to 18-21 overall and 3-6 in the league.
 
Mercer got on the board for the first time in the bottom of the fourth on Tori Hedgecock's school-record 17^th home run of the season, a solo blast down the left field line, to cut the Furman lead to 4-1. The Bears pulled within a run at 4-3 in the sixth when Kassidy Moore singled off reliever Lauralee Scott and Avery Barton followed with a two-run homer to center.
 
Laura Vigna singled to start the bottom of the seventh and Alyssa Woods followed with a triple to the left field wall to tie the game. Scott, however, retired three of the next four batters to strand Woods at third base and force extra innings.
 
The game remained knotted at 4-4 until the bottom of the ninth. Wood led off the inning with an infield single and moved to second base when Janessa Plummer put down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a dropped ball at first base. The Paladins intentionally walked Hedgecock to load the bases and Scott struck out Kassidy Moore before Woods sprinted home on a wild pitch to end the contest.
 
Mercer's Grace Taylor (8-8) tossed seven shutout innings of two-hit relief to earn the victory. Scott (7-4) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on four hits and four walks in 3.1 innings.
 
Furman opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the first inning with the benefit of just one hit. Ashlee Lykins worked a base on balls and Caitlin Goldwait beat out an infield single to start the rally. After Kiley Perry lined out, Sylvia Burrough's was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Lykins beat a throw to the plate on a fielder's choice to score the first run. Ansley Chiang reached on an error by the pitcher to double the lead and Burroughs scooted home on a two-out error by the Bears' third baseman to give Furman a 3-0 advantage.
 
In the top of the second, Lykins and Goldwait started another rally with a single and hit by pitch, respectively, but a double play left the Paladins with a runner at second base and two outs. Burrough's delivered the fourth run of the game with a two-out, RBI single to center field.
 
Burroughs and Lykins combined to make the play of the day in the bottom half of the third inning. With a runner on second and two outs, Janessa Plummer popped up a bunt that Burrough's dove to catch. She jumped to her feet and fired to second base and Lykins, the centerfielder, snagged the throw on a sprint from outfield to tag the base and end the inning.
 
Barton and Woods each went 2-for-4 and combined to drive in three Mercer runs. Goldwait finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and a hit by pitch for the Paladins. Lykins, who singled and drew a base on balls for Furman, has now reached base safely in 35 of her last 36 games.
 
Furman is idle until next weekend when it hosts Samford in a three-game SoCon series at Pepsi Stadium. Admission is free to all three games.