Mercer Travels to Sunshine State for Citrus Classic

Friday, March 3

Orlando, Fla.

3:30 PM ET

Mercer University

Kansas

Mercer Travels to Sunshine State for Citrus Classic

3/2/2017 4:05:00 PM | Softball

Live Stats vs. Kansas

The Bears open the weekend vs. Kansas at 3:30 p.m. Friday

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer heads south to the Sunshine State for the Citrus Classic II, March 3-5, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The Bears will play five games during the three-day stretch against Kansas, FIU, Bryant, No. 12 James Madison and Boston College in their fourth non-conference tournament of the 2017 season.

The trip is the first of two consecutive weekends spent in Orlando, bookending the spring break week for the Bears (9-8). Mercer is 5-2 dating back to the start of last weekend's Black & Orange Challenge in Macon and split a home doubleheader against Florida A&M on Wednesday.

CITRUS CLASSIC II OUTLOOK
Date: Friday, March 3 – Sunday, March 5
Location: Orlando, Fla. | ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Teams (Records): Mercer (9-8); Kansas (10-5); FIU (11-5); Bryant (1-4); No. 12 James Madison (12-2); Boston College (8-7)
Live Stats: MercerBears.com
Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball

CITRUS CLASSIC II SCHEDULE

DATE	TIME	TEAMS (HOME UNDERLINED)	LIVE STATS
Friday, March 3	3:30 p.m. ET	Mercer vs. Kansas	http://bit.ly/2mjjsuH
Friday, March 3	5:45 p.m. ET	Mercer vs. FIU	http://bit.ly/2mxM1VX
Saturday, March 4	2:45 p.m. ET	Mercer vs. Bryant	http://bit.ly/2mj8F3K
Saturday, March 4	5 p.m. ET	Mercer vs. James Madison	http://bit.ly/2lZ2BN6
Sunday, March 5	10 a.m. ET	Mercer vs. Boston College	http://bit.ly/2mKqHJw

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
Speed kills. After leading the Southern Conference in stolen bases for a second straight year in 2016 (76 swipes in 89 attempts), Mercer is picking up where it left off. The Bears are 42 of 46 in stolen base attempts, ranking 10th nationally with 2.47 steals per game. Meghan Rud's 17 steals are two more than the next closest SoCon team (15) while Megan Lane and Taylor Miller rank second and third behind her among league players.

GUESS WHO'S BACK?
2016 SoCon batting champion and 2017 Preseason All-SoCon First Team selection Taylor Miller is riding an eight-game hit streak since joining the lineup against Georgia State on Feb. 22. She is batting .355 overall with three multi-hit performances.

IN THE FAST LANE
An impressive start to the season has Megan Lane among team and league leaders in multiple offensive categories. The catcher/outfielder earned SoCon Player of the Week accolades for Feb. 14-20 and is batting .409 with 14 runs scored and a league-best 14 bases on balls. She additionally has 12 RBIs and three home runs.

WAIT, YOU'RE THE NEW KID?
Three freshmen have shown glimpses of why Coach DeFeo recruited them to be Bears. Abby Walsh and Danielle Castleberry have started all 17 contests in right field and second base, respectively, and have risen to the occasion at the plate. Wash hit .455 last week and had two RBIs in Mercer's 8-7 win over Florida A&M on Wednesday while Castleberry batted .467 with three RBIs and a triple last week.

Right-hander Stella Preston leads Mercer in nearly every pitching category, as she owns a 3-3 record with a 3.23 ERA. Opposing batters are collectively hitting .218 off Preston while she has struck out 30 batters in 43.1 innings.

NEW NAME, SAME REGIME
After three years as a co-head coach alongside her brother, James, Stephanie DeFeo takes the full reigns of the Mercer softball program in 2017. DeFeo earned her 100th victory at Mercer with the Bears' 5-1 win over Portland State on Feb. 11 and is 108-84 since arriving in Macon. She was instrumental in the program's best-ever three-year stretch, helping Mercer go 99-76 over the last three seasons.

With the return of assistant coach Heather Han and two first-year assistant coaches, Mike Giannamore and Kathleen Watson-Otani, DeFeo and company anticipate bright results in their 2017 campaign.

SCOUTING KANSAS
The Jayhawks are 10-5 after a 3-2 weekend at the Cardinal Classic in Texas last weekend, both losses coming in walk-off fashion. Kansas is powered by its pitching staff, which owns a collective 1.27 ERA while opposing batters are hitting only .222 off them. Alexis Reid (6-1) has four shutouts in six complete games so far, striking out 27 batters in 46.2 innings. Kansas leads the Big 12 in home runs with 16, highlighted by Jessie Roane's five individual long balls. Four Jayhawks are hitting .353 or better.

Kansas won the only previous meeting with Mercer, 2-0, on Feb. 21, 2015 at the Aquafina Invitational.

SCOUTING FIU
FIU owns the second-most wins (11) of Mercer's five opponents this weekend and most recently went 3-2 at the FGCU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational in Fort Myers, Florida, last weekend. Led by Jackie Schoff's .462 batting average, the Panthers are hitting .277 as a unit. Stephanie Texeira has a team-best 18 RBIs. Shannon Saile has tossed a team-high 42.0 innings with 57 strikeouts over seven appearances.

Mercer is an even 4-4 against FIU all-time; having most recently split a pair of contests at the 2013 FIU Classic. The Panthers defeated Mercer, 7-0, on Feb. 23, 2013 before the Bears returned the favor with a 4-3 victory the following day.

SCOUTING BRYANT
Bryant is 1-4 overall, having played only five games at the ECU Pirate Clash in Greenville, North Carolina Feb. 17-19. The Bulldogs hit .203 out of the gate in the tournament, led by a hot start from Haylee Haas (.417, one triple). Bryant's lone win was 2-1 victory over Cleveland State.

Saturday's contest will be the first ever between Mercer and Bryant.

SCOUTING JAMES MADISON
James Madison enters the weekend as the No. 12 (USA Today/NFCA) team in the nation, having already defeated five teams that are nationally ranked or have received votes. The Dukes went 4-1 at Auburn's Tiger Invitational last weekend, highlighted by a 1-0 win over the No. 2 Tigers. Junior Megan Good is a perfect 8-0 in the circle with 78 strikeouts and a 0.27 ERA, helping the Dukes boast a collective 0.92 ERA. Niki Prince leads James Madison with a .455 batting average, two home runs and 12 RBIs.

James Madison is the second nationally ranked team Mercer will face this year; the Bears fell to No. 2 Auburn, 10-1, at the Plainsman Invitational. Mercer owns a 1-0 advantage all-time against the Dukes, defeating them, 3-1, on March 7, 2010.

SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
Boston College is on a four-game skid after a tough weekend at the FGU/Four Points by Sheraton Invitational. Three Eagles are hitting above .300 while the team owns a .238 average and 12 home runs. Junior pitcher Jessica Dreswick is 5-2 in the circle with 40 strikeouts and 50.2 innings pitched.

Mercer has won one of the three all-time meetings with Boston College. The Eagles won twice in Macon last year, defeating Mercer 8-3 and 9-1.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Softball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerUSoftball (Twitter), /MercerSoftball (Facebook) and @MercerUSoftball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.