Baseball Hosts Kennesaw State on Wednesday

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team hosts Kennesaw State at OrthoGeorgia Park on Wednesday for an in-state showdown. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m.

The first 200 fans in attendance on Wednesday night will receive a pair of safety goggles. Get your tickets today by clicking here.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (26-17, 12-6 SoCon) vs. Kennesaw State (26-13, 12-3 ASUN)
Location: Macon, Ga. | OrthoGeorgia Park
Wednesday: May 5 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | Watch | Tickets

Projected Rotations:

Wednesday: RHP Tommy Green vs. LHP Anthony Rodriguez

Batting Practice

The Bears enter the contest with a 26-17 record and a 12-6 mark in SoCon play. Mercer is coming off a series win over ETSU this past weekend.
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.
Mercer has hit 69 home runs in 43 games during the 2021 season. The 69 home runs rank third in the nation. Brandon Michie leads the Bears with 12 home runs and Angelo DiSpigna and Yeager follow with 11.
On Monday, Garett Delano was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week. This is the first time he has been named player of the week. Earlier this season, he was named SoCon Pitcher of the Week. He hit .588 on the week with 10 hits. He drove in six runs on the week.
The Bears lead the Southern Conference with 90 doubles, which ranks sixth in the NCAA. Fourteen different Bears have hit a double, and the team is led by Bill Knight's 13 two-base knocks. Knight ranks second in the SoCon in doubles.
May 4^th was Opening Day for the minor leagues. Mercer has seven former players playing in the minor leagues this season.
Taylor Lobus leads the Bears with seven wins this season. The seven wins are tied for the most in the Southern Conference.
Luke Sutko leads Mercer with six saves during the 2021 season. The six saves are the second-most in the Southern Conference. Sutko also ranks second in appearances with 22.
In the win last week against Kennesaw State, Mercer tallied nine punch-outs in the game. Zach Turner led the way with four.
RJ Yeager has started every game at shortstop since he arrived on campus as a freshman. He has currently started 183 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 420 games, 16 more than Georgia Tech who is second on the list.

Series History
Series: Mercer leads the all-time series, 29-18
First Meeting: 1986 – Mercer 3, Kennesaw State 0
Last Meeting: 2021 – Mercer 12, Kennesaw State 10
Streak: W1

Scouting Kennesaw State
Kennesaw State enters the midweek matchup coming off a series win over Georgia Tech this past weekend. The Owls come in with a record of 26-13. This will be the second meeting between these two teams.

Alex Carballo leads the team with a .349 batting average in 35 games. He is one of five players with an average higher than .300. Tyler Tolve is second on the team with an average of .327 and leads the Owls with 41 RBI. The Owls are hitting .292 with 40 home runs and an on-base percentage of .391.

As a pitching staff, the Owls have an ERA of 4.85 in 339.1 innings pitched. The Bears will face Anthony Rodriguez on Wednesday. Rodriguez is 0-1 on the season with a 5.56 ERA. He has tallied 13 strikeouts in 11.1 innings. Opponents are hitting .326 off Rodriguez.

Jared Rine leads the team with 16 appearances this season. He has pitched 38 innings and has an ERA of 2.13. He is one of two players on the team with at least five saves. Kolby Johnson leads the team with six saves and has made 13 appearances. Johnson has pitched 19.1 innings and holds an ERA of 4.19.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Garett Delano

Angelo DiSpigna

Tommy Green

Bill Knight

Taylor Lobus

Brandon Michie

Luke Sutko

Zach Turner

RJ Yeager

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