Softball Hosts Seton Hall, Oakland In Mercer Bears Classic

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University softball team will look to build off of a successful trip to Florida as it hosts its third tournament of the 2016 season, the Mercer Bears Classic, March 18-20. Mercer will host Seton Hall and Oakland in the three-day, seven-game tournament.

Due to pending weather in the Macon area, Friday's tournament games have been moved up two hours apiece. Those updated times are reflected below. All games on Saturday and Sunday are as scheduled at this point.

TOURNAMENT LINEUP
Dates: March 18-20, 2016
Teams: Mercer (12-16), Seton Hall (12-11), Oakland (4-12)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Sikes Field
Mercer's Schedule (All Times EST): Friday, March 18 – 1:30 p.m. vs. Seton Hall | LIVE STATS Friday, March 18 – 3:45 p.m. vs. Oakland | LIVE STATS Saturday, March 19 – 2 p.m. vs. Oakland | LIVE STATS Saturday, March 19 – 4:15 p.m. vs. Seton Hall | LIVE STATS Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball
Instagram Photos: @MercerUSoftball

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION: Both of Mercer's opponents enter the tournament on losing skids, Oakland having lost its past three games and Seton Hall dropping its most recent contest.

Oakland won its first game – a 2-1 victory over Niagara – at the Elon Softball Tournament in Elon, N.C. on Friday, March 11, but then fell to the Phoenix and Central Connecticut, twice to finish the weekend 1-3. The Golden Grizzlies, who reached a NCAA Regional in 2015, are hitting .216 collectively. Freshman infielder Brittney Miller leads Oakland with a .500 batting average, 17 hits, nine RBI and 12 walks drawn.

The Golden Grizzlies feature a 5.71 team earned-run average in the circle. Three Oakland pitchers have logged at least 21.1 innings, led by sophomore right-hander Haley Zemmer (31.1 innings, 4.88 ERA).

Seton Hall was defeated by Saint Joseph's, 14-7, on Wednesday. The Pirates also went 2-3 last weekend at the Clearwater Tournament in Clearwater, Fla., picking up wins over Cornell and Sam Houston State. Since jumping out to an 8-2 record to start the season, the Pirates have lost nine of 13 games.

The Pirates have found success at the plate, hitting a collective .310 and feature four players with averages better than .355. Sophomore infielder Alexis Walkden is Seton Hall's featured bat, leading the team in average (.400), home runs (four), on-base percentage (.544) and walks (18).

In the circle, Seton Hall is led by freshman Madison Strunk (9-6), who has tossed seven complete games and recorded 62 strikeouts in 87.1 innings.

MERCER'S LAST TIME OUT: The Bears capped a 5-2 week in Florida with a commanding run-rule 8-0 win over Massachusetts on Sunday, March 13, to close out the FAU Invitational. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Megan Bilgri tossed a five-inning shutout while earning her third win of the season in the circle. Bilgri also struck out three batters while scattering four hits.

Four Bears had multi-hit performances, led by sophomore Emma Andrew and freshman Shaila Warren, who added two RBI apiece. Leading 1-0, Mercer used a seven-hit, five-run third inning to pull away from the Minutewomen. The Bears stole four bases to reach a total of 40 for the season, as well.

MERCER FACTS AND FIGURES

GAINING STEAM: The Bears are 7-3 in their last 10 games, good for the second-best record in the Southern Conference over that stretch. Mercer is now 12-2 overall when scoring at least five runs, a feat they accomplished in all five wins last week while in Florida.

HOME SWEET HOME: Mercer is 6-3 overall at Sikes Field this season, going 3-2 in the season-opening Mercer Invitational and 3-1 in the Black & Orange Challenge. Since the 2014 season, the Bears are 47-16 at home.

RUNNING AWAY WITH IT: The SoCon's top base-stealing team used 14 swipes last week to continue increasing its lead in the category. Mercer has stolen 40 bases in 45 attempts and leads the SoCon by 18 steals. Junior Taylor Miller and sophomore Meghan Rud have 14 and 11 steals, respectively, to own the top individual spots in the SoCon. No other player has more than six steals so far this season.

The Bears also rank 60th in the nation with 1.48 steals per game.

CLOSING IN: Junior Anna O'Neill needs only two strikeouts to reach 61 for the 2016 season and set a new individual season-high. O'Neill is 3-5 in the circle and owns a 4.33 ERA through 62.1 innings pitched. She only needs 8.2 innings to set another individual season-high in innings pitched.

COLLECTIVE EFFORT: While O'Neill has logged the most innings in the circle for Mercer, junior Maxine Rodriguez (46.0) and sophomore Jill McElderry (46.1) have given the Bears the ability to consistently turn to three different arms this season. Rodriguez (4-5) leads the team in wins while McElderry has recorded the second most strikeouts with 27.

Bilgri, who has surrendered only four earned runs over her last 20.2 innings pitched and added 15 strikeouts to the mix, has proven she's plenty capable in the circle as well.

HIT AFTER HIT: Three Bears own current three-game hitting streaks, including sophomore Quirisa Mauga, freshman Lindsay Boynton and Miller. Miller owns Mercer's longest hitting streak of the season with a nine-game stretch from Feb. 26 to March 4. Two other Bears, Warren and Rud, have had six-game hitting streaks this season.