MACON, Ga.- Savannah State fell below the .500 level after dropping a double-header to Mercer at Claude Smith Field.

It took 11 innings but Mercer won the opener 10-9 and completed the sweep with a 15-4 victory in the second game.

The losses give SSU a 14-15 mark while the Bears improve to 19-14.

The games were a homecoming for SSU players Cordarian Robertson (Macon), Jonathan Ross (Macon), Blake Lee (Byron) and Wilfred Phillips (Bonaire).

Savannah State swept a two-game series played from Mercer on March 30 and 31.

In the first game, Mercer took a 1-0 lead in the first but the Dexter Kelley was hit by a pitch and later stole home to tie the game in the second inning.

SSU scored five runs in the third as Lee hit a two-run single and Matthew Nowacki hit a three-run homer. Mercer added two runs in the bottom of the inning to slice SSU's lead to 6-3 and scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 8-6.

Ross hit a single in the fifth and Kelley followed with a home run to tie the game but Mercer scored once in the bottom of the inning to re-take the lead, 9-8.

Julius Green was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth and came home on a single by Darien Campbell to knot the score at nine.

In the 11th, Nick Adams reached on an error and scored the game winning run when Michael Langley singled to left field.

Mercer stranded 18 runners while SSU left four on base.

Nowacki had three RBI's and Kelley scored three runs for SSU. Jason Wynn took the loss. Wynn pitched 2./2 innings and gave up two hits and one run.

David Teasley pitched 5.2 innings and struck out three to get the win. Langley had four hits and drove in five runs for the Bears.

The nightcap was not as close as Jacob Tanis hit three home runs to lead the Bears to the 11-run win. Tanis had seven RBIs and three hits and scored three times. Randall David pitched five innings and struck out 10 batters to get the victory.

Mercer led 1-0 after the first inning but SSU scored twice in the third as Ross hit a two-run single. In the bottom of the inning, Billy Burns hit a two-run home run and Tanis hit a solo shot to put the Bears back on top 4-2.

Tanis hit a three-run blast as the Bears scored six times in the fourth to increase their advantage to 10-2.

Kevin Herlihy hit a two-run single for the Tigers in the sixth to cut their deficit to 10-4 but Tanis and Adams homered for Mercer in the eighth to push their lead to 15-4.

Ross and Herlihy each drove in two runs for SSU. Andrew Garren pitched 3.1 innings and struck out four batters for SSU.

SSU ended the day with nine errors while the pitchers combined to surrender 19 walks.