April 21, 2011

MACON, Ga. – After another emotional mid-week victory, the Mercer baseball team resumes Atlantic Sun Conference play when it hosts Lipscomb for a three-game series later this week.     

 

Game one of the three-game set is on Thursday night at 6 p.m., with game two on Friday at 6 p.m. and game three scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Claude Smith Field.

 

After Tuesday's win over Georgia Tech, Mercer is now an impressive 10-3 in mid-week contests compared to a 15-12 record in weekend sets.

 

Last Time Out

 

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team pushed three runs across in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 6-3 triumph over No. 9 Georgia Tech on Tuesday evening at Claude Smith Field.

 

The win was Mercer's (25-15) second-straight over the ACC powerhouse and gave the Bears their first season sweep of Georgia Tech (27-11) since 1976.

 

The win also marked 2011 as the first year Mercer has won two games against ranked teams since the Bears defeated then No. 1 ranked Clemson and Florida back in 2006.

 

Sophomore Matt McCall picked up the win on a predetermined pitch count while freshman DJ Johnson earned the save for the Bears, holding Tech hitless over his 1.1 innings of relief.

 

Scouting the Opposition

 

Lipscomb enters the series with a 14-24 overall record and a 5-10 mark in A-Sun play. The Bisons have struggled this season due to their struggles on offense. Despite a team ERA of 4.54, which ranks fourth in the A-Sun, Lipscomb has a .273 team batting average and have scored just 191 runs this season. Junior Connor Sinclair is the ace of the Bisons pitching staff entering play this weekend ranking second in the conference with a 2.09 ERA and leading the league with 55 strikeouts.

 

Quick Hits

 

- Freshman Derrick Workman is currently on a 15-game hitting streak, the longest by any Bear this season. The Acworth, Ga. product is currently hitting .342 and ranks tied for fourth in the A-Sun with nine home runs and seventh in the conference with 92 total bases.

 

- The Bears 25-15 start and marked improvement this season is not a fluke, as they currently rank 61st in the ratings percentage index (RPI). The A-Sun currently sports a 125-95 non-conference record, seven teams with an under-100 team RPI and an overall conference RPI that currently ranks seventh in the nation. Only the SEC, ACC, Conference USA, Big 12, Pac-10 and Sun Belt sport better conference RPI's than the A-Sun.