MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball program announced its next step in defending its 2015 Southern Conference regular season and tournament titles, as head coach Craig Gibson released the team’s 56-game 2016 schedule today.
“I think it’s another great schedule for our ball club,” said Gibson. “We have some new opponents with great teams like College of Charleston, Radford and Xavier, but the schedule is definitely highlighted by the strong in-state schools, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State and Savannah State. We will spend the first month at home and then move toward our conference opener against Wofford, so we’re excited to get things rolling in February.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
Mercer will face a schedule that features seven programs that recorded 30 or more wins last season and three 2015 NCAA Regional participants. The Bears’ 2016 schedule includes 29 contests at Claude Smith Field and 27 road games against teams that put together a combined winning percentage of 50.5.
HOME COOKING EARLY ON
The Bears won’t have to leave Macon for the first three weeks of the season, as they open the 2016 campaign with 12-straight games at Claude Smith Field. Mercer won 10 of its last 15 games at home in 2015 and will look to carry that success into the season-opening series on Feb. 19-21 against Radford, which is coming off its best season in program history and a Big South tournament title.
IN-STATE RIVALRIES
Mercer will once again have a season series with each NCAA Div. I program in the state of Georgia, after becoming the only team from the state to advance to 2015 NCAA Regional play. The Bears, whose five in-state victories in 2015 trailed only Georgia Tech, will kick off their 12-game in-state schedule with the mid-week match-up against Georgia on Feb. 23 at Claude Smith Field.
The month of March features eight intrastate battles that includes home contests against Georgia Southern (Mar. 15), Kennesaw State (Mar. 20), Savannah State (Mar. 29) and Georgia State (Mar. 30) and away match-ups with Georgia State (Mar. 8), Kennesaw State (Mar. 18-19) and Georgia (Mar. 22). Mercer concludes its in-state schedule with a home game against Georgia Tech (Apr. 5) and road tests versus Georgia Southern (Apr. 12), Georgia Tech (Apr. 19) and Savannah State (Apr. 26).
THE JOURNEY TO A REPEAT TITLE
The Bears, who only lost one SoCon series on their way to the league’s regular season and tournament crowns in 2015, will take on a 24-game SoCon slate this season with an even four home series and four road series. The conference schedule opens with a home series versus Wofford on Mar. 24-26 and features additional home dates against The Citadel, Furman and VMI. Mercer, who went 8-3 in SoCon road games last season, leaves Macon for series at East Tennessee State, Samford, UNC-Greensboro and Western Carolina.
