Mercer Opens SoCon Play as Mocs Visit Macon

MACON, Ga. – Southern Conference play opens up Saturday for Mercer softball as the Bears host Chattanooga in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.

GAMEDAY DETAILS
Teams: Mercer (14-19) vs. Chattanooga (9-20)
Dates: Saturday-Sunday, March 25-26
Location: Macon, Ga. | Sikes Field
Game 1: Saturday, March 25 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats
Game 2: Saturday, March 25 | 3 p.m. | Live Stats
Game 3: Sunday, March 26 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats | Military Appreciation Day
Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball

Quick Hits
• Mercer opens SoCon play this weekend with a three-game series against Chattanooga.
• Mercer is 14-19 all-time against Chattanooga but has gone 4-4 against the Mocs since joining the Southern Conference. Two of those games have been in the SoCon Tournament.
• The Bears are coming off a 2-3 weekend hosting the Mercer Bears Classic with back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Eastern Michigan (3-2) and Belmont (13-12, 10 innings).
• Chattanooga enters this weekend's games wtih a 9-20 record. The Mocs are coming off a 2-3 weekend at the USF Under Armour Invitational in Tampa where UTC won games over Colgate (10-0) and LIU Brooklyn (6-4) but fell in games to Monmouth (9-6), Fairfield (6-4) and Illinois (13-12).

Opening SoCon Play

When Chattanooga visits Macon this weekend it will mark the opening of SoCon play for both teams. Now in its third season as a member of the Southern Conference, Mercer is 1-1 in SoCon openers and 1-1 in SoCon opening series. The Bears won two of three games (including the opener) against Western Carolina in 2015 but was swept by Samford last season in the league opening series.

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 on pace to surpass last year's total. The Bears are 74 for 81 in stolen base attempts, ranking 12th nationally with 2.24 steals per game. Meghan Rud (25), Taylor Miller (23) and Megan Lane (8) are the top three stolen base threats in the conference as Rud's individual total is more than all but two SoCon teams.

Mercer Stolen Bases Nationally Ranked

Name	Nat'l	SoCon	Stat
Taylor Miller	12	1	0.79
Meghan Rud	17	2	0.76

Better than Teams in the SoCon

Both Meghan Rud and Taylor Miller not only are nationally ranked in stolen bases but their marks are better than most Southern Conference teams. The two Bears have more stolen bases than all but two SoCon teams, Samford (34) and Furman (27).

Stolen Bases

Name	SB
Samford	34
Furman	27
Meghan Rud	25
Taylor Miller	23
Chattanooga	16
UNCG	16
Western Carolina	15
ETSU	4

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.

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Players Mentioned

Megan Lane

Taylor Miller

Meghan Rud

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