Mercer Wraps Up Road Swing at Samford

MACON, Ga. – Mercer will head to Samford this weekend to wrap up a seven-game road swing with a Southern Conference series in Birmingham, Alabama.

The two teams, separated by one game in the SoCon standings, would face each other in the first round of the SoCon Tournament if the season ended today. The Bulldogs enter the weekend ranked fifth in the conference in hitting and fourth in pitching while the Bears rank third overall in both but lead the league in pitching in conference games only.

THE SAMFORD SERIES
Teams: Mercer (20-26, 6-6 SoCon) at Samford (19-28, 7-5)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. | Samford Field
Game 1: Saturday, April 22 | 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT | Live Video | Live Stats
Game 2: Saturday, April 22 | 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT | Live Video | Live Stats
Game 3: Sunday, April 23 | 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT | Live Video | Live Stats
Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball

Quick Hits

Mercer continues and concludes a seven-game road trip with a three-game series at Samford starting with a doubleheader Saturday. All three games of the series will be broadcast on the SoCon Digital Network.
Mercer trails Samford in the all-time series, 34-30, and is looking to avenge a sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs last year including dropping a decision in the SoCon Tournament to Samford.
Samford is 19-28 on the season after dropping a 4-3 decision to UAB on Tuesday evening. The Bulldogs have lost three of their last four games, narrowly avoiding a sweep at the hands of UNCG.
The Bears continue to be one of the nation's most dangerous teams on the base paths, ranking 18th nationally (and first in the SoCon) with an average of 2.00 steals per game.
Mercer needs only five more wins to record the program's 700th overall victory.

Head West, Young Women!
After starting this seven-game road trip east of Macon, the Bears now head west for a three-game series at Samford. In known locations, Mercer is 5-2 all-time when playing Samford in Birmingham.

Rud Sets Program Season Stolen Base Record
Meghan Rud set a new single season school record in the third inning of Mercer's April 13 game at South Carolina as she swiped her 32nd base of the year. That broke her own record of 31 stolen bases, set last year and matched this season.

But she can't let up. Taylor Miller is hot on her heels with 28 swipes on the year and continues to keep pace with Rud.

Stolen Bases (Single Season)

No.	Player	Year
32	Meghan Rud	2017
31	Meghan Rud	2016
28	Taylor Miller	2017
27	Anna Johnson	2011
26	Kristi Hopkins	2000

Career Record Coming Soon ... But to Whom?
Meghan Rud set a new single season school record in stolen bases in April this year but she has competition if she wants the career record (this year). Teammate Taylor Miller has 87 career stolen bases while Rud enters this week's action with 84. Both are quickly approaching the Mercer career record of 93 stolen bases set by McKenzie Woody (2011-14).

Stolen Bases (Career)

No.	Player	Years
93	McKenzie Woody	2011-14
87	Taylor Miller	2014-Present
84	Meghan Rud	2015-Present
77	Anna Johnson	2008-11
42	Shannon Tolin	1997-98

Busting the Books
The records are starting to fall. Already Meghan Rud has broken (her own) school record for stolen bases in a single season. Now Stella Preston needs just one more save to set a new single season record for saves in a season.

Category	2017 Mark	Current School Record (Season)
Saves	4, Stella Preston	4, Kristi Montgomery (2003)

Stella!
Stella Preston is having quite the freshman season. Already having tied the program's single-season record for saves at four (see above), she ranks fourth nationally and leads the Southern Conference in the category while her ERA of 2.73 ranks third in the league behind only Furman's Lindsey Bert (2.03) and Mercer's Megan Bilgri (2.22).

Bilgri's Streak Reaches 19 Innings
Megan Bilgri is in the midst of an impressive streak. The junior pitcher enters this weekend's action having tossed 19.0 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. She did not allow an earned run in her last three appearances as the streak began with her final out against UNCG on April 8.

Mercer Led By Strong Arms
Mercer's performance in the pitching circle has been exemplary and the numbers back that up. Entering this week's games, Mercer's Megan Bilgri (2.22) and Stella Preston (2.73) ranked second and third, respectively, in the SoCon in ERA. But those numbers get even more impressive when you look at conference-only games, where Preston (0.50) and Bilgri (0.89) pack a powerful punch, leading the conference.

Pitcher	ERA	SoCon Rank	SoCon ERA	Rank
Megan Bilgri	2.22	2nd	0.89	2nd
Stella Preston	2.73	3rd	0.50	1st

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 Bilgri

Taylor Miller

Stella Preston

Meghan Rud

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