Baseball Heads to VMI for SoCon Play

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears baseball team returns to Southern Conference action on Friday and Saturday when it travels to Lexington, Va. to face VMI. First pitch on Friday is set for 4 p.m.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (20-12, 8-1 SoCon) at VMI (6-20, 2-10 SoCon)
Location: Lexington, Va. | Gray-Minor Stadium
Friday: April 16 | 4 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch
Saturday (G1): April 17 | 1 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday (G2): April 17 | 5 p.m. | Live Stats

Projected Rotations:

Friday: RHP Garett Delano vs. LHP Nathan Light
Saturday (G1) RHP Tommy Green vs. RHP Jacob Menders
Saturday (G2): TBA vs. TBA

Batting Practice

The Bears enter the weekend with a 20-12 record and an 8-1 mark in SoCon play. Mercer has won 15 of its last 18 games.
Last Tuesday, Garett Delano was named to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award watch list. This award is named by the College Baseball Foundation. Delano is the only player from the Southern Conference on the list.
RJ Yeager was named a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award. The award is for a student-athlete who excels both on and off the field and must have achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
On Tuesday, Yeager was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List. This award is honors the nation's top shortstop. This is the second time in his career that Yeager has been named to the list.
Mercer has hit 41 home runs in 31 games during the 2021 season. The 41 home runs rank 16^th in the nation. Brandon Michie leads the team with eight bombs.
In the top of the first inning of Wednesday's game at Georgia Southern, Yeager hit his sixth home run of the season, which gave him 21 for his career. Currently, Yeager is Mercer's active career leader in home runs. Le Bassett is one home run behind Yeager.
The Bears lead the Southern Conference with 65 doubles, which ranks 15th in the NCAA. Thirteen different Bears have hit a double, and the team is led by Angelo DiSpigna and Bill Knight's 10 two-base knocks.
RJ Yeager has started every game at shortstop since he arrived on campus as a freshman. He has currently started 172 consecutive games.
Mercer was picked to finish second in the 2021 Preseason SoCon Coaches and Media Polls. The Bears were picked behind Samford in both polls.
Mercer is one of just four NCAA Division I programs to win at least 35 games in each of the past 10 full seasons, joining LSU, Florida State and Vanderbilt.
Since 2010, the Bears are the winningest Division I baseball program in the state of Georgia. The Bears have won 401 games, seven more than Georgia Tech which is second on the list.

Series History
Series: Mercer leads the all-time series, 19-5
First Meeting: 2004 – Mercer 4, VMI 0
Last Meeting: 2019 – Mercer 15, VMI 6
Streak: W6

Scouting VMI
The Keydets of VMI enter the weekend with a record of 6-20 overall and 2-10 mark in Southern Conference play. VMI was swept by Western Carolina last weekend and did not play a midweek contest this week.

As a team, the Keydets are hitting .257 this season and have an on-base percentage of .371. Justin Starke leads the team with a .318 batting average. He has started 24 games and has 28 hits, four of which are home runs. Collen Nuccio leads the team with 19 RBI on the season. Nuccio is hitting .208 this spring.

On the mound, VMI has an ERA of 8.35 in 211.1 innings pitched. Friday night's starter, Nathan Light, enters the weekend with a 0-7 record and an ERA of 7.38 this season. Light has made nine starts and has pitched 38.2 innings. Jacob Menders, Saturday's starter for game one, leads the team with 42.2 innings pitched and has a record of 1-2.

Out of the pen, Ryan Huffman leads the team with 13 appearances and holds a record of 1-0. Huffman has an ERA of 8.49 on the season. Tyler Bradt is second on the team with 10 appearances. He has an ERA of 3.14 in 14.1 innings pitched.

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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Le Bassett

Garett Delano

Angelo DiSpigna

Tommy Green

Bill Knight

Brandon Michie

RJ Yeager

Footer

Mercer University Athletics