Mercer Faces Samford in Pivotal Road Series

Friday, April 13

Birmingham, Ala.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

Samford

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4/12/2018 3:12:00 PM | Baseball

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Bears travel to Birmingham to face red-hot Bulldogs

By: Gerrit W. Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer seeks a return to form as it clashes with Southern Conference foe Samford in a three-game series in Birmingham, Ala., this weekend.

The Bears (26-9, 6-3 SoCon) have lost three of four games and will face the league's hottest team in Samford (20-14, 7-2), which has won nine straight games including a pair of consecutive weekend sweeps.

All three contests will be aired live via SoCon Digital Network at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (26-9, 6-3 SoCon) at Samford (20-14, 7-2 SoCon)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. | Joe Lee Griffin Field
Tickets: SamfordSports.com
Friday: 6 p.m. (ET) | April 13 | Live Stats | SoCon Digital Network
Saturday: 3 p.m. (ET) | April 14 | Live Stats | SoCon Digital Network
Sunday: 2 p.m. (ET) | April 15 | Live Stats | SoCon Digital Network
Projected Starters:

Friday: LHP Austin Cox (6-0, 4.74 ERA) vs. RHP Cody Shelton (1-2, 3.48 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Chase Burks (4-2, 5.66 ERA) vs. LHP Samuel Strickland (5-0, 1.35 ERA)
Sunday: TBD vs. RHP Stephen Jones (3-4, 3.98 ERA)

Batting Practice

Mercer is one of seven teams nationally with 26 wins or more. (Florida, Duke, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, NC State, Tennessee Tech).
Mercer has claimed the series victory over Samford twice in three years since joining the SoCon.
Mercer has won 29 of 35 weekend series dating back to 2015.
Craig Gibson (496-340) is four wins away from career victory No. 500.
Mercer is one of three teams nationally with 13 players to have hit at least one home run this season (Tennessee Tech, 15; Elon, 13).
Trey Truitt is one of four players nationally with 50-plus hits and 40-plus runs scored. (Kyle Isbel, UNLV; Bryson Scott, UNLV; Matt Sanders, Troy).
Truitt is also one of three players nationally with 10-plus home runs and 10-plus stolen bases (Seth Lancaster, UNCW; Bren Spillane, Illinois).
Robert Broom is one of seven players tied for the national lead in wins (7).
Austin Cox ranks third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (14.84).
Mercer ranks in the top 10 nationally in 11 statistical categories.
- Strikeouts per nine innings (first, 11.4)
- Strikeouts (first, 398)
- Runs (second, 308)
- Scoring (second, 8.8)
- Hits (third, 400)
- Hit by pitch (third, 69)
- On base percentage (fifth, .422)
- Batting average (sixth, .317)
- Home runs (ninth, 46)
- Slugging percentage (10th, .489)
- Home runs per game (10th, 1.31)

A Look at the Series
The Bears most recently suffered a season-ending loss to Samford in the 2017 SoCon Tournament, despite earning a series sweep over the Bulldogs in Macon on April 7-9. Mercer owns a 41-30 all-time record against Samford.

Series: Mercer, 41-30
First Meeting: 1983 | Mercer, 17-3
Last Meeting: May 26, 2017 | Samford 5-4 in Greenville, S.C.
Streak: Samford, 1

A Look at Samford
The Bulldogs, winners of a SoCon-best nine-game win streak, defeated No. 21 Auburn, 12-3, at home Tuesday. With weekend sweeps on the road at Furman and The Citadel in the last two weeks, Samford sits in second place in the SoCon standings.

Led by pitching staff that ranks atop the SoCon in ERA (3.53) and batting average against (.220), Samford has four pitchers with over 23 innings pitched that own sub-2.00 ERAs, including Saturday's projected starter, Samuel Strickland (5-0, 1.35).

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.