Mercer Goes for Fourth Straight SoCon Series at VMI

Thursday, April 13

Lexington, Va.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

VMI

Photo by: Bill Hirsh

Mercer Goes for Fourth Straight SoCon Series at VMI

4/12/2017 12:34:00 PM | Baseball

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The Bears enter the three-game slate with an 8-1 conference record

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer looks to continue its strong start in Southern Conference play as it makes its longest trip of the season to Lexington, Virginia for a three-game series at VMI. The teams will play Thursday, Friday and Saturday to avoid playing on Easter Sunday.

The Bears (29-6, 8-1 SoCon) are winners of their last eight games and remain tied for first nationally in total wins after an 11-4 win at Georgia State Tuesday night. They have claimed the first three SoCon series of the year so far, including a pair of consecutive sweeps against Furman and Samford. VMI owns a 17-16 (4-5) record and is coming off a series win at Wofford last weekend.

Thursday and Friday's contests will start at 6 p.m. while Saturday is scheduled for a first pitch of 3 p.m. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN3.

SERIES LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (29-6, 8-1 SoCon) at VMI (17-16, 4-5 SoCon)
Location: Lexington, Virginia | Gray-Minor Stadium
Thursday: April 13 | 6 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Friday: April 14 | 6 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Saturday: April 15 | 3 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Twitter Updates: @MercerBaseball
Projected Starters

Thursday: RHP Ryan Askew (4-0, 3.29) vs. RHP Matthew Eagle (3-1, 3.18)
Friday: LHP Austin Cox (3-1, 4.76) vs. RHP Josh Winder (5-2, 2.35)
Saturday: RHP Kevin Coulter (3-2, 5.77) vs. LHP Brandon Barbery (0-5, 5.40)

Quick Hits

As of Wednesday, Mercer tied for the national lead with 29 wins. Mercer and nationally ranked Clemson and Texas Tech all share the top spot.
Mercer's .829 win percentage is the sixth-best mark in the nation.
Mercer is 9-4-1 all-time against the Keydets.
RHP Ryan Askew was named SoCon Pitcher of the Week (April 3-9) for his complete-game effort in Mercer's 4-2 win over Samford last Friday.
Catcher Charlie Madden ranks third nationally in home runs (14) while leading the SoCon in total bases (96), slugging percentage (.722), RBI (40), runs scored (39) and doubles (13).
Mercer owns a SoCon-best 3.01 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Askew is ninth in the nation with an individual ratio of 9.75.
Mercer continues to receive votes in two national polls (ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and NCBWA Top 25 poll).

Scouting VMI
VMI finds itself in the early mix of the SoCon race after three weekends of league play. The Keydets claimed a series win at Wofford last weekend with 4-3 and 8-1 victories in the first two games.

Mercer will face one of the SoCon's top pitching duos this week as the Keydets are led by sophomore Josh Winder and junior Matthew Eagle. Winder (5-2, 2.35 ERA) owns an 8.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio and averages 11.01 strikeouts per nine innings. He has tossed at least eight innings in six of eight starts this year while notching double-digit strikeout totals four times. Eagle, meanwhile, has 40 strikeouts in 39.2 innings while batters are hitting .231 against him. While ranking second in the conference with 37 home runs, VMI is batting only .249 as a unit.

Series History
Mercer is 9-4-1 all-time against the Keydets, including a 5-1 mark since joining the SoCon. The Bears swept VMI in 2015 and took two of three games against them in Macon last year. Kevin Coulter went 6.1 strong innings to help Mercer clinch last year's series with a 7-2 win on Sunday. Former Bear Kyle Lewis had five RBIs in the contest while Trey Truitt added a two-RBI triple late in the game.

Last Time Out
Five runs over the first three frames pushed the Bears to their sixth in-state win with an 11-4 nonconference defeat of Georgia State in Atlanta. Mercer never trailed the Panthers (11-21), who lost their 11th consecutive contest.

Zach Graveno (5-0) earned the win with three hitless innings of relief after taking over for Chase Burks, who started and lasted only one frame. Christian Vann, who pumped out three strikeouts, followed up Graveno's effort with another two hitless innings. A two-out, bases-clearing double to the gap by Hunter Bening helped Mercer claimed a 3-0 lead in the first. After the Panthers cut the lead to one run Mercer responded with five unanswered over the next five frames, keyed by RBI singles from Alex Crotty, Ryan Hagan and Danny Edgeworth.

Patience, Young Bear Cub
Mercer cracked the 200-walk milestone for the season last Sunday and enters this week's series with 211 total. With 48 walks over the last five games, the Bears are one of only two NCAA programs (Florida State, 219) with 200+ bases on balls. Ryan Hagan (29), Jackson Ware (28) and Charlie Madden (25) rank among the top 50 nationally.

Going For Three
The quest for a third consecutive SoCon championship continues this week as Mercer takes on VMI in its fourth league series this season. The Bears have swept Samford and Furman in consecutive weekends to improve to 8-1 in conference play.

Southern Power
Mercer has found its hot bats as it leads the SoCon in several offensive categories including home runs (57), scoring (8.1), on-base percentage (.421), bases on balls (211) and slugging percentage (.515) while ranking second in hits (362). The early success is not limited to Mercer's hitters as the Bears' pitching staff ranks among the top three in strikeouts (316), ERA (4.40), wins (29), innings pitched (317.0) and walks allowed (105).

Follow The Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Baseball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBaseball (Twitter), /MercerBaseball (Facebook) and @Mercer.Baseball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.