SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer outfielder Brandon Michie and ETSU right-handed pitcher Nathanial Tate have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games from March 15-21. The selections are made by the league office.
 
Michie went 10-for-20 in the Bears’ five games over the past week, hitting .500 with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs. On Friday, the redshirt senior hit a single that led to two runs and gave the Bears the 11-9 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning against Bradley. He recorded his second multi-home run game on the season when he hit two homers in game one of Mercer’s doubleheader against the Braves on Saturday. Michie is currently on a nine-game hitting streak and leads the team in batting average (.371), home runs (five), RBIs (22), runs scored (21) and hits (26). His 21 runs are ranked second in the SoCon, while his five home runs, 22 RBIs and 26 hits are good for third.
 
Mercer (10-9, 0-0 SoCon) will travel to Georgia State on Tuesday, March 23, before its conference-opening series against the Red Division leader Wofford (12-7, 2-1) on Friday, March 26, at home. 
 
Tate earned the Bucs’ first pitcher of the week honors this season after recording his first career quality start and win of the season in ETSU’s 7-2 series-clinching victory over VMI. Tate gave up only two hits and no earned runs over six innings of work. He struck out a career-high 11 batters, which was the most by any conference pitcher last weekend. The graduate student struck out three batters in a single inning twice against the Keydets in his one appearance last week. 
 
ETSU (12-7, 2-1) will battle Samford (10-10, 3-0), the Blue Division leader, on Friday, March 26, in Birmingham, Alabama, with the opening pitch set for 5 p.m. ET.