Bears Head To Georgia State On Wednesday

MACON – The Mercer softball team will look to ride the momentum of a stellar season-opening weekend into Atlanta on Wednesday when the Bears open up a five-game stretch away from home against Georgia State. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Bob Heck Softball Complex.

Fans unable to make the trip to the capital city can still follow the action for free via a live statistics link provided by the GSU athletics department.

The Bears (3-1) picked up a trio of wins at the Heart of Georgia Classic on Friday and Saturday at Sikes Field. The Orange & Black registered a .360 (40-for-111) across their four-game stretch, headlined by six players that tallied a .308 clip or better. Junior Tori Hedgecock picked up Southern Conference Player of the Week laurels after turning in a .625 batting average on the weekend, while junior Kassidy Moore wowed the crowd on Friday evening with a monster power display against Drexel that included school records for both home runs (3) and RBI (9).

In the circle, the Bears got a standout outing from SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year Grace Taylor in a win over Atlantic-10 favorite Dayton in their season opener, while riding the coattails of a pair of stellar outings from freshmen Grace Roark and Gabby Ellis in Saturday's outings.

SERIES HISTORY

Georgia State leads the all-time series, 55-19, but the squads split a pair of matchups last season. MU took the front end of a road doubleheader with GSU by a 6-5 count, while the Panthers stopped a three-game series skid with a 9-2 triumph in the nightcap.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS

Georgia State (2-3) registered a pair of wins over Howard at the UCF Black & Gold Classic in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend. GSU slipped past the Bison, 5-4, in its season opener on Friday, and then won a rematch with Howard, 4-1, on Saturday. The Panthers losses came to UConn, Seattle and the host Knights.

Senior second baseman Chloe Nader hit a team-best .462 (6-for-13) with a triple and a pair of RBI in Orlando, while junior right-hander Hallie Adams surrendered just one earned run over two appearances and 7-1/3 innings pitched to pace the Georgia State pitching staff at the round-robin tournament.

GSU was picked to finish 10^th in the 12-team race for the 2024 Sun Belt Conference title in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches that was released in late January. The Panthers were 18-36 last season.

UP NEXT FOR THE BEARS

The Bears will trek to Jacksonville, Fla., this weekend to take part in the JU/UNF Invitational. Saturday's games, which will be played on the campus of Jacksonville University, will pit Mercer against both Jacksonville (2-2) and UNC Wilmington (3-2). The Bears will make the short trip across town on Sunday to take on both Notre Dame (3-2) and North Florida (3-1) on the UNF campus.

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SUPPORT THE BEARS

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Players Mentioned

Gabby Ellis

Tori Hedgecock

Kassidy Moore

Grace Roark

Grace Taylor

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