Mercer Opens 2011 Campaign with First Practice on Friday

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MACON, Ga. – Under the direction of eighth-year head coach Craig Gibson, the 2011 edition of the Mercer baseball team took the field for the first time on Friday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.

Just 21 days away from hosting Liberty on February 18-20, the Bears took part in team and positional drills before concluding the practice with an inter-squad scrimmage.

"The guys were definitely excited to be out here and I think our whole staff including Coach Shade, Coach Holmes and Coach Burns did a great job of getting our pitchers and hitters ready to go," said Gibson. "We had a lot of high energy today with a bunch of guys playing really hard and it was great to finally be out here together for the first time."

Mercer returns 18 letterwinners, including six starters and 10 pitchers, from the 2010 squad that captured the program's fourth A-Sun Championship and advanced to the program's first-ever NCAA Regional.

Headlining the returnees for the Orange and Black is consensus Preseason All-American Jacob Tanis. Joining the junior third baseman is speedy outfielder Billy Burns along with 2010 A-Sun All-Freshman team selections Evan Boyd, Matt McCall and David Teasley.   

After compiling a 38-24 record last season, the second-most wins in program history, and receiving votes in the 2011 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Top 25 poll expectations couldn't be higher for the Bears and that is fine with Gibson.

"This is a self-motivated group who plays hard and works out hard and I think a lot is expected this year, but they also expect a lot out of themselves. We will deal with the expectations as we go, but we have a pretty mature group here who is just looking to get better everyday."