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Prep Baseball: Mercer takes Long way back to 12th Region finals, tops Somerset 4-0

By MIKE MARSEE
[email]marsee@amnews.com[/email]
10:54 a.m. EDT, May 31, 2012

The defending 12th Region champions are defending the best way they know how.
Mercer County is within one win of a second straight trip to the state baseball tournament, having taken a decidedly different route than the one that took them all the way to the state finals a year ago.
This year’s Mercer team relies on small ball to produce enough runs to support its pitching and defense, and that formula worked to perfection for the Titans on Wednesday in their 4-0 victory over Somerset in a 12th Region Tournament semifinal at Admiral Field.
The Titans took advantage of a multitude of base-runners and an effective pitching performance by J.T. Long to blank Somerset 4-0 at Admiral Field and earn a spot in tonight’s regional final.
“We’ve been shaky at times, but it’s been a growing process for this team. There’s been a lot of pressure put on them following last year’s run, but they have just taken it, and here we are,” Mercer coach Jeremy Shope said. “I’m so proud of this bunch. They’ve battled a lot of adversity all year long, and what a time to come together and give ourselves another shot at it.”
Mercer (22-12) will play host Danville (31-9) tonight for the regional title.
Long threw a five-hit shutout for the Titans, extinguishing every threat Somerset tried to ignite and redeeming himself for a poor performance in the district championship.
Meanwhile, Mercer put its leadoff batter on base in every inning, and although that didn’t pay dividends early in the game, the Titans were confident that they would break through.
“We were hitting the ball, hitting it right to people. We knew if we kept it up it was going to get through,” Long said. “We’re not really a power team, we’re more of a small-ball team, and we played to our strengths today. We played that to perfection and played really good baseball.”
The Titans had only a handful of truly hard-hit balls off Somerset’s Jarred Price, the hardest of them a two-run home run by Tyler Devine that stretched their lead from 1-0 to 3-0 in the fifth inning.
“We left a lot runners on base early and just couldn’t get that big hit, but the way J.T. pitched it and we played defense, we gave ourselves a chance to win and just kept hanging in there until Tyler hit a big home run,” Shope said. “Tyler’s been swinging it well lately, and what a time for a senior with his experience to step up for us.”
Long pitched out of one last jam in the sixth inning, then retired Somerset in order in the seventh to finish off a complete game in which he threw only 80 pitches. He struck out five batters without a walk, and only three opposing hitters worked him to three-ball counts.
It was a far cry from the way Long threw the last time he took the mound eight days earlier, when he allowed six runs in the first two innings of an 8-1 loss to West Jessamine in the 46th District Tournament final.
“The difference today was he was able to work ahead of hitters and get his changeup working down and away and was able to throw that in any count,” Shope said.
Long wasn’t at his best thanks to a muscle spasm in his neck that appeared early in the day, but he got an assist from Mercer fan and nurse Dawn Davis, the daughter of the Titans’ scorekeeper, who massaged his neck between innings.
“I was over there getting massaged between every inning, and that really helped a lot,” said Long, who also had two hits. “All my off-speed pitches were moving, my fastball was even moving. I didn’t have the velocity that I usually have just because of my neck, but I kept them off balance with off-speed, and coach Shope called a really good game.”
Somerset (25-12) stranded five runners, four of whom were left in scoring position. The Briar Jumpers left runners at first and second in the fourth inning when Long got the third out on a soft line drive, and they had runners at second and third with two outs in the sixth before a ground ball ended the inning.
By then, Long had some breathing room thanks to the big blow by Devine, who followed Long’s leadoff single in the fifth by blasting a fastball toward the trees beyond left-center field.
“I lost it in the sun, but I heard everybody start screaming, ‘Home run!’ so I knew it was gone,” Devine said.
Devine’s teammates orchestrated a celebration for the occasion, falling to the ground in unison as he landed on home plate.
“I didn’t think they were going to do it, but they told me to jump, so I jumped and they all fell down. It was pretty cool,” he said.
Mercer took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Austin Horn reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second base and scored on two Somerset errors, the last after a dropped third strike. The Titans tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning when Alex Guay, who was on base four times, reached on an error and scored on a two-out single by Long.

12th Region Tournament
At Danville
Semifinal
Somerset 000 000 0 — 0 5 3
Mercer County 000 121 x — 4 8 1
Jarred Price and Storm Wilson. J.T. Long and Alex Guay. W—Long. L—Price. 2B—Price (S). HR—Tyler Devine (MC).

http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/spor...6951.story