Zach Merciez

33

Class: Sophomore Hometown: Bartlesville, Okla. High School: Bartlesville HS

Height / Weight: 6-2 / 190 Position: Right-Handed Pitcher B/T: R/R

Honors
• MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award (2012)
• MVC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll (2012)

2012: Merciez turned in a strong rookie campaign for the Bears, posting a 4.78 earned run average and two saves in 18 relief appearances...Logged a 3.72 ERA in 10 home outings...Made his Missouri State debut Feb. 18, against Tennessee Tech, working 3.2 innings and allowing just one run on one hit to help preserve a 10-8 victory...Tossed 2.0 scoreless innings vs. Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 24) to notch his first career save...Earned his second save March 9, in a 3-0 blanking of SIU Edwardsville, combining with Nick Petree on a two-hit shutout; worked the final 3.0 innings, striking-out a career-best five hitters without giving up a hit...Closed out the Bears' March 13, loss to Purdue with two scoreless innings of relief...Turned in his fourth-consecutive scoreless outing March 25 to help preserve a 5-3 win over Creighton that completed the Bears' three-game sweep...Allowed his first runs since March 4 in the Bears' 9-8 win over Kansas (March 27), giving up two runs over 2 2/3 innings...Worked a career-long 5.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on just three hits while striking out four in a 6-5 loss at Dallas Baptist (March 30)...One of four MSU pitchers to combine on a 3-0 shutout of Kansas State (April 11), working a scoreless seventh inning...Tossed a scoreless inning to help the Bears knock off Wichita State and secure their first regular-season road series win over the Shockers (April 21)...Worked 4.0 innings vs. Southern Illinois (April 28), allowing just one run on three hits while fanning a career-best five Salukis...Allowed one run or less in five of his final seven outings of the season (April 4-May 9).

Background: Merciez came to MSU after a standout prep career at Bartlesville (Okla.) High...Went 7-2 with a 2.29 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 55 innings for the Bruins as a junior...Earned all-district honors in football as a kicker for a Bartlesville program that went 16-7 over the last two seasons and won the school's first playoff game in 20 years in 2009.

Personal: Zachary Joseph Merciez is the son of Danny and Juli Merciez...Father played football at Missouri State in the late 1980s...Born October 20, 1992, in Springfield, Mo.