Bears Set for Final Home Games of the Season

Saturday, April 27

Macon, Ga.

1 P.M.

Mercer University

UNCG

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

4/26/2019 1:50:00 PM | Softball

Mercer will host UNCG for a three-game SoCon series

By: Jace Sanders

MACON, Ga. – Mercer softball will play in the friendly confines of Sikes Field one last time in 2019, as it welcomes Southern Conference foe UNCG for three games on Saturday and Sunday; all three contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

The Bears (22-24, 7-4 SoCon) will get things going against the Spartans (25-19, 7-4 SoCon) with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, then wrap up the home slate with Senior Day on Sunday at 1 p.m.

WEEKEND LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (21-24, 7-4 SoCon) vs. UNCG (25-19, 7-4)
Location: Macon, Ga. | Sikes Field
Saturday (G1): April 27 | 1 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Saturday (G2): April 27 | 3 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Sunday: April 28 | 1 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball

QUICK HITS

For the second weekend in a row, Mercer will square off in a key SoCon matchup with postseason implications. Last week the Bears faced league-leading Samford and are tied with UNCG for second place in the conference.
The Bears won a SoCon weekly honor for the third week in a row when Kenlie Harvey was named the Player of the Week on Monday. Megan Lane (Player of the Week) and Bailey Pattison (Pitcher of the Week) claimed the awards the previous two weeks.
Harvey leads the team with six home runs on the season.
Pattison has the sixth-best ERA among qualifying pitchers in the league this season and is tied for third with 10 wins.
Danielle Castleberry is tied for the league-lead with a .377 batting average on the season and leads the conference with a .482 on base percentage and with 52 hits on the ledger – six more than any other player.
At the plate, Mercer currently leads the SoCon in on base percentage (.375), runs scored (230), scoring (5.11), hits (336), RBI (190), walks (143) and stolen bases (57) this season.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bears and Spartans are even in their all-time series, knotted at seven games apiece. However, Mercer has lost just one series with UNCG since the Bears joined the Southern Conference back in 2014.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
UNCG enters the game with a 25-18 record and seven-game losing streak. The Spartans played their toughest stretch of games in the past week, challenging themselves to four-straight games against teams in the top 30 of the RPI rankings during their bye weekend from SoCon play and the midweek nonconference weekday games: No. 10/11 Louisiana (18th RPI) last Tuesday, a doubleheader last Saturday at No. 15/21 South Carolina (20) and North Carolina (27) at home Wednesday.

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.