Setting the Stage for the Spartans

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team travels to North Carolina for Southern Conference action this weekend. The Bears will face the UNCG Spartans in a three-game set that starts on Thursday at noon.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Teams: Mercer (28-5, 3-0 SoCon) at UNCG (14-19, 0-3 SoCon)
Location: Greensboro, N.C. | UNCG Baseball Stadium
Thursday: April 14 | 12 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
Friday: April 15 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
Saturday: April 16 | 2 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+

Projected Rotations:

Thursday: RHP Josh Harlow vs. LHP Jared Mathewson
Friday: RHP Ryan Lobus vs. RHP Austin Parsley
Saturday: RHP Josh Farmer vs. TBD

Batting Practice

The Bears head to Greensboro, N.C. for their second SoCon weekend of action. Mercer looks to improve on its 3-0 league record.
Last week, Bill Knight hit .500 with seven RBI. He drove home six on Sunday against The Citadel. In Sunday's game, Knight hit a grand slam to break a 4-4 game in the sixth.
Mercer has hit 61 home runs in 32 games during the 2022 season. The 61 home runs rank fifth-best in the nation.
Colby Thomas leads the team and conference with 14 homers and ranks fifth in the nation.
The Bears are second in the league with 67 two-baggers, which ranks 43^rd in the NCAA. 13 different Bears have hit a double, and the team is led by Thomas with thirteen two-base knocks.
Mercer leads the SoCon with the lowest ERA of 3.38 and ranked 12th in the country. Jackson Kelley leads the team and is in the top 10 in the country with a 0.29 ERA.
Mercer currently leads the conference with 351 Ks this season. Mercer is led by Josh Harlow, who has fanned 59 this season. Kelley follows with 51. Mercer has 13 pitchers that have tallied double-digit punchouts on the year.
Mercer was picked to finish second in the 2022 Preseason SoCon Coaches and Media Polls. The Bears were picked behind Wofford in both polls.
Mercer is one of just three NCAA Division I programs to win at least 35 games in each of the past 11 full seasons, joining LSU and Vanderbilt.
Since 2010, the Bears are the winningest Division I baseball program in the state of Georgia.

Series History
Series: Mercer and UNCG series is tied, 11-11
First Meeting: 1998 – UNCG 7, Mercer 6
Last Meeting: 2021 – Mercer 7, UNCG 3
Streak: W4

Scouting UNCG
UNCG enters the three-game slate with the Bears holding an 14-19 overall record and a mark of 0-3 in the Southern Conference. UNCG has played 16 games at its home park and are .500 when playing there. The Spartans are coming off a trip to Wofford were they went 0-3 in the opening weekend of Southern Conference play.

As a team, the Spartans are hitting .297, the third best average in the SoCon behind Mercer (.306) and ETSU (.311). Hogan Windish leads the team and the SoCon with a .412 average. Kennedy Jones follows Windish on the team hitting .381 on the season and a team high 30 RBI's. Greg Hardison (.375) and Pres Cavenaugh (.301) round out the .300 hitters for the Spartans.

On the mound, the Spartans have a team ERA of 5.67 and are allowing teams to hit .291. Reliever Alex Hoppe leads the team with 59 strikeouts on the year and has a 3.11 ERA in 37.2 innings pitched. The Bears will face Jared Mathewson on Friday and Austin Parsley. Mathewsons is 2-3 with an ERA of 3.78 and Parsley is 5-3 with an ERA of 4.35.

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

Josh Farmer

Josh Harlow

Jackson Kelley

Bill Knight

Ryan Lobus

Colby Thomas

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