Mercer Hosts Indiana State in Four-Game Series

Friday, March 8

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

Indiana State

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Ken Lanese

Mercer Hosts Indiana State in Four-Game Series

3/7/2019 9:10:00 AM | Baseball

Tickets

Bears, Sycamores will clash for first time since 2013

By: Gerrit W. Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer will welcome a red-hot Indiana State to OrthoGeorgia Park for a four-game series this weekend, starting at 6 p.m. (ET) Friday night.

The Bears (9-5) are coming off a mid-week split with in-state foes Georgia State and Georgia Southern and will host their third weekend series of the early season. The four-game series will feature a doubleheader on Saturday. All four games will have live stats available.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (9-5) vs. Indiana State (9-1)
Location: Macon, Ga. | OrthoGeorgia Park
Friday: March 8 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday (G1): March 9 | 2 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday (G2): March 9 | 5 p.m. | Live Stats
Sunday: March 10 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats
Tickets: MercerBears.com
Projected Rotations:

Friday: RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long vs. LHP Triston Polley
Saturday (G1): LHP Tanner Hall vs. RHP Collin Liberatore
Saturday (G2): TBD vs. RHP Tyler Whitbread
Sunday: RHP Zach Graveno vs. TBD

Batting Practice

Mercer's weekend rotation of Sawyer Gipson-Long, Tanner Hall and Zach Graveno owns a 43-to-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio with three starts apiece.
Three Bears – Trevor Austin (.373), Zach Miller (.352) and Kyle Dockus (.351) – are hitting above .350 to lead Mercer's lineup.
Mercer has won two of three weekend series this season, including both at home against Evansville and Alabama A&M.
Nick Spear ranks fifth nationally with eight appearances on the mound.
RJ Yeager is the SoCon's leader in home runs (6), RBI (18) and total bases (43).
Mercer is one of four NCAA Division I programs to win at least 35 games in each of the past nine seasons, joining LSU, Florida State and Vanderbilt.

Series History

Series: Tied, 1-1
First Meeting: March 8, 2013 in Terre Haute, Ind. (Mercer won 9-1)
Last Meeting: March 9, 2013 in Terre Haute, Ind. (Indiana State won, 10-2)
Streak: Indiana State, 1

Scouting Indiana State
The Sycamores are off to an impressive start, winning nine of 10 games. A weekend sweep at Jacksonville followed by wins over UNCW, Marshall and Iona in Wilmington, N.C., earned Indiana State six straight victories before a mid-week split at Western Carolina. The Sycamores then took two games against Austin Peay. They've had their last two games against Austin Peay and Indiana either postponed or cancelled.

Pitching has proved to be a strong suit for the Sycamores, as they have allowed two runs or fewer runs in six of 10 games played. Left-hander Triston Polley (2-0) will start on the mound Friday and owns a 1.00 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched. Max Wright (.467) and Roby Enriquez (.390) lead the Sycamores' offense.

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.