Bears Look to Stay Hot Against ETSU at Home

Friday, April 26

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

ETSU

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Daniel Gibbons

4/25/2019 8:27:00 AM | Baseball

Watch - Game 1 Tickets

Mercer in the hunt at 8-7 in SoCon play

By: Gerrit W. Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer rides a six-game win streak into its Southern Conference series against ETSU at OrthoGeorgia Park this weekend, starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

The Bears (21-20, 8-7 SoCon) and Bucs (27-11, 7-4 SoCon) rank fourth and second, respectively, in the conference standings with four weeks remaining in the regular season. Friday's series opener will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network.

Mercer has collaborated with Critical Care for Animal Angels, Inc. (CCAA) and GotSneakers to host a shoe drive all series; fans are encouraged to bring new or gently used shoes and rubber-bottom cleats to OrthoGeorgia Park in exchange for a $4 concession stand voucher.

SERIES LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (21-20, 8-7 SoCon) vs. ETSU (27-11, 7-4 SoCon)
Location: Macon, Ga. | OrthoGeorgia Park
Friday: April 26 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | SoCon Digital Network
Saturday: April 27 | 2 p.m. | Live Stats
Sunday: April 28 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats
Tickets: tickets.mercer.edu
Projected Rotations:

Friday: RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long vs. RHP Micah Kaczor
Saturday: RHP Kevin Coulter vs. RHP Landon Knack
Sunday: LHP Tanner Hall vs. RHP Daniel Sweeney

Batting Practice

Mercer's six-game win streak is the second longest in the league behind Samford (9).
Mercer and ETSU have met every season since 2006, both as members of the SoCon and ASUN.
The Bears are 11-1 in their last 12 games against ETSU, including a series sweep on the road in 2018.
Mercer has won its last four league games dating back to a win in the series finale against Western Carolina on April 13. The Bears swept VMI in Lexington last weekend.
Kel Johnson owns a 40-game reached base streak; he has reached in every game he has played in this season. The graduate senior ranks seventh nationally with 16 home runs.
Mercer's weekend rotation of Sawyer Gipson-Long, Kevin Coulter and Tanner Hall are a combined 7-2 and own a .241 batting average against in SoCon play.
Three freshmen – Angelo DiSpigna (2), Collin Price and Bill Knight – hit four total home runs in Mercer's 10-7 win at Florida A&M on Tuesday. The three Bears have started 39, 31 and 20 games, respectively.
Kyle Dockus leads Mercer in batting average (.327), runs (40), hits (53), walks (23), on base percentage (.423) and stolen bases (15).
RJ Yeager has started 101 consecutive games at shortstop since the start of his freshman season. He is batting .309 and has 20 extra-base hits (11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs).
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: Mercer leads, 33-15
First Meeting: April 14, 2006 in Johnson City, Tenn. (Mercer won, 10-8)
Last Meeting: March 31, 2018 in Johnson City, Tenn. (Mercer won, 8-4)
Streak: Mercer, 3

Scouting ETSU
All three of ETSU's weekend starting pitchers rank inside the top 10 for earned run average among SoCon pitchers, led by right-hander Micah Kaczor (2.10). Nine of the Bucs' wins this season have been one-run ball games. Although they have dominated at home (21-4), the Bucs are 6-7 in road contests.

ETSU is 4-1 in its last five games, including a two-game split against Wofford last weekend (series finale cancelled). The Bucs have lost just one of their four SoCon series.

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.