Mercer baseball hosts Georgia State Tuesday

MACON, Ga. (MERCER ATHLETICS) – The Mercer University baseball team returns to action for its first mid-week test of the year, as the Bears host in-state rival Georgia State for a 5 p.m. contest at Claude Smith Field.

SERIES HISTORY
Mercer and Georgia State will face off for the 112th time in a series that dates back to 1967. The Bears hold a 67-44 advantage in the all-time series, having won five of the last seven meetings.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Georgia State comes into Tuesday’s game with a 1-2 record, after defeating Fordham on Friday and dropping both contests in Saturday’s doubleheader with No. 23 Liberty.

Preseason All-American Matt Rose leads the Panthers’ offense, after going 5-for-11 with three home runs and six RBI this past weekend. Sophomore outfielder Trae Sweeting hit .429 and scored four runs in two appearances, while freshman shortstop Justin Jones posted a .308 batting average with four RBI. Junior College transfer Marc-Andre Habeck is poised to make his GSU debut on the mound.

THE BEARS’ STORYLINES
Head Coach Craig Gibson and Mercer are 6-4 against GSU in the last 10 meetings between the two programs.

The Bears finished 2014 with the best record amongst in-state foes as their 6-2 mark was better than Kennesaw State (8-4), Georgia Tech (7-5), Georgia State (4-5), Georgia Southern (3-4), Georgia (3-7) and Savannah State (1-5). Mercer is now 29-14 against schools in the state of Georgia dating back to the start of the 2011 season.

Considered one of the program’s top strengths coming into the season, Mercer’s bullpen did not disappoint in the opening series of the year. The squad’s top three returning relievers (Dimitri Kourtis, Ben Lumsden and Morgan Pittman) combined to give up just one run on four hits in 10.2 innings of work this past weekend.

The Bears kick off a busy week of action with Tuesday’s game against Georgia State. Mercer will host No. 19 Kennesaw State on Wednesday, before wrapping up the five-game slate in Daytona Beach, Fla. with a three-game series vs. Bethune Cookman.

Senior pitcher Ben Lumsden will make his first start of the season on Tuesday, which will also be the fifth start of his career after taking the mound for the team’s first pitch four times during the 2013 campaign. He has tossed 1.1 scoreless innings this season with two strikeouts.

Mercer got good production out of its freshmen class in the season-opening series with Virginia Tech. Outfielders Conrad Cornell and Trey Truitt each drove in runs during Friday’s 9-1 victory, while left-handed pitcher Connor Herd had a strong 4.2 innings of work as Saturday’s starter on the mound.

For more information, visit MercerBears.com.