Mercer Ready for Weekend Test Against FSU

Saturday, May 6

Tallahassee, FL

3 p.m.

Mercer University

Florida State University

Treyson Hughes running around the base path

5/4/2023 3:17:00 PM | Baseball

By: Amanda Cover

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Mercer baseball program (28-17, 10-5 SoCon) will take on Florida State (15-28, 6-18 ACC) in a weekend series at Dick Howser Stadium beginning on Friday, May 5 at 6 p.m. The series will continue on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

FRIDAY, May 5 | 6 p.m.
MER: LHP Fred Wilson (1-2, 5.11 ERA)
FSU: RHP Jackson Baumeister (3-4, 5.07 ERA)
ACCNX | LIVE STATS

SATURDAY, May 6 | 3 p.m.
MER: LHP Colton Cosper (4-3, 4.98 ERA)
FSU: RHP Conner Whittaker (3-6, 5.34 ERA)
ACCNX | LIVE STATS

SUNDAY, May 7 | 1 p.m.
MER: TBA
FSU: TBA
ACCNX | LIVE STATS

When Mercer and Florida State met last season, the Bears took down the No. 10 Seminoles, 6-5, with a walk-off single in the 11^th inning. The two teams have extensive history as it relates to the coaching staffs as FSU head coach Link Jarrett was the recruiting coordinator at Mercer in 2004-05 in Craig Gibson's first two seasons as head coach.

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE
FSU, currently holding a 15-28 overall record, has already posted the most losses in program history since 1984 with 11 regular-season games left. The Seminoles have struggled to score this season, only reaching double figure runs in 10 games, and rank 216^th out of 295 teams for runs scored this spring.

Most recently, the Seminoles fell to in-state rival, Florida, 7-5, after leading 5-4 through the first inning. Florida State won its first two weekend series and the first conference series but have failed to take a three-game set since March 11.

Jackson Baumeister leads the pitching staff with a stellar 13.59 strikeouts per nine innings mark which ranks 10^th in the nation. Projected Saturday starter Conner Whittaker has only started five games this season but has been stuck with six losses on the mound in 14 appearances.

RECENT ACTION
The Bears had multiple record book moments during the series against UNCG last weekend as Mercer took two games to win the series and move into first place in the Southern Conference. Colton Cosper threw the first nine-inning complete game for Mercer since 2018 on Friday night accompanied by a career-high nine strikeouts.

Jozsef Rohrbacher became the first Mercer player to hit three home runs in a single game since 2019 as he also recorded eight RBI. Rohrbacher was named to Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week list for his 8-for-15 performance on the week.

Fred Wilson made his first weekend appearance of the season on Sunday, entering in relief of Ryan Lobus in the fifth inning to claim his first win of the season. Wilson is slated to make his first weekend start on Friday against the Seminoles.

IN THE NUMBERS

Ty Dalley ranks second in the Southern Conference in home runs with 15. Eric Toth and Jozsef Rohrbacher are tied for fifth with 13.
Mercer ranks 15th in Division I in home runs with 80 this season.
Mercer is 12th in Division I for fielding percentage at .981. Only 21 schools are fielding .980 or above.
Treyson Hughes ranks sixth in Division I and first in the SoCon for runs scored with 59.
Wes Franklin ranks 15th in Division I and first in the SoCon for saves with eight this season.
Trevor Austin ranks 10th in Division I among active players for games played (223) and 29th for hits (229).

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