Alumni Weekend Highlighted by Pair Of Pivotal Double Headers

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University softball team will return to Atlantic Sun Conference play this weekend with a four-game home stand against Lipscomb and Belmont.

Lipscomb (Friday, 4 & 6 p.m.) is the current overall leader in the A-Sun with a 31-7 overall record and a perfect 8-0 record in conference. On the other end of the spectrum Belmont (Saturday 2 & 4 p.m.) comes in 6-30 with a 2-6 conference record.

THIS PAST WEEK IN MERCER SOFTBALL
The Bears played host to Georgia Southern on Tuesday and split the double-header with the Eagles winning game two on a walk-off home run by sophomore Stephanie Canara.

SCOUTING THE BISONS
Lipscomb comes to Sikes Field as the top team in two out of the three top statistical categories in the A-Sun. The Bisons lead in overall team batting with a .326 average and also hold the top spot in team pitching with a 1.28 ERA. To their credit they are also the second best fielding team in the A-Sun with a .973 fielding percentage. The Bears however hold the overall series lead against Lipscomb 7-6 including taking three out of four last season.

The Bisons pitching staff is third in country with a 1.29 overall ERA and are led by sophomore pitcher Whitney Kiihnl who is having an amazing 2010 campaign. Individually Kiihnl is second in the NCAA with an astounding .64 ERA. The sophomore is 20-2 and has only let up 12 earned runs on the season.

Offensively, the Bisons bring in one of the most intimidating lineups in the A-Sun. Kiihnl, who is making a strong case for A-Sun player of the year, is also leading the conference in batting average, striking the ball at an impressive .402 clip in 2010. Seven of the Bisons regular starters are batting over .315 which is a main reason why they lead the A-Sun in runs scored with 209 – some 25 runs better than their next closest competitor in FGCU.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Sikes Field will be the second stop on the Georgia tour of A-Sun schools for Belmont as the Bruins will face Kennesaw State on Friday. Two of the Bruins six wins this season are in conference including a solid win against North Florida last week.

Belmont is led by sophomore Ashley Byers who has seven home runs and 23 RBI on the year. The Bruins pitching staff has been a little shaky this season with just one pitcher throwing below a 5.00 ERA. Freshman Devon Schmidt is the only pitcher on Belmont's staff to win in 2010 going 6-11 in 23 appearances. She has given up a team-high 71 earned runs. In fact the Bruins are the only team in the A-Sun thus far to have given up more than 200 runs on the year.

The Bears hold a 16-7 overall record against the Bruins including taking the season series a year ago, 2-0 and 15-0 in Nashville.