Baseball Holds First Spring Practice of the 2012 Season

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team took the field for its first official practice of the 2012 season on a beautiful Friday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.

The team started the day with some running and stretching, a batting practice session, position drills and concluded the opening practice with an eight-inning intersquad scrimmage.

“I like the way the guys came out with a lot of good energy on the field today and hopefully things carry over throughout the weekend,” head coach Craig Gibson said. “It will be good for our guys to get out here and see some pitches, certainly our pitching is ahead of our hitting right now, but early on I am just looking for a lot of energy and for guys to be fundamentally sound.”

The Bears feature 18 newcomers compared to just 13 returning letterwinners from their 2011 squad that went 39-20 overall and finished the season ranked #56 in the National Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

All the newcomers on this years’ 2012 squad look to continue an impressive run put together by the Bears over the past two seasons. Mercer has won a combined 77 games over the past two years, putting them in a tie with high profile schools such as Miami, LSU and Alabama for the 28^th most victories in the nation over that span.

 “We would rather reload than rebuild, but the ball doesn’t know how old you are or what you have done in the past so we think we are very talented and we expect to compete for a championship again this season,” said Gibson.

The Orange and Black continue practice this weekend with scrimmages that are open to the public on Saturday at 11:30 am and Sunday at 2 p.m.