Mercer University
VMI
Baseball Rolls Past VMI, 19-7, to Advance to SoCon Semifinals
5/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Mercer University baseball team used its most dominant offensive performance of the year to cruise to a 19-7 victory over VMI and advance in the winner's bracket of the Southern Conference Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties.
Mercer (33-21) set season-highs with 23 hits and 19 runs in the contest, falling just one hit shy of tying the SoCon Championship single-game record. Danny Edgeworth, Charlie Madden and Jackson Ware each had four hits to lead the Bears' offense, which had nine different players find the hits column including six with multiple-hit performances.
"Yesterday we relied on our pitching, but today we had to be offensive to take on a talented VMI lineup," said head coach Craig Gibson. "We swung the bats really well this afternoon and won a lot of big moments at the plate. Our bullpen was great today as well though, especially Mitchell Wade, who had five big punch outs."
Mitchell Wade retired the first 11 batters he faced to improve to 6-1 on the season, as the senior right-hander gave up two runs on three hits in four innings of action while striking out five batters.
Mercer got off to a fast start, as Matt Meeder drove the second pitch of the game over the left field wall for an early 1-0 lead. The Bears tacked on two more runs in the frame, after back-to-back RBI singles by Edgeworth and Madden handed the team a 3-0 advantage.
VMI answered in the bottom half of the inning, putting together three straight hits including Matt Winn's run-scoring single that cut the deficit to two, 3-1.
However, the Bears exploded for five runs in the top of the second to push their lead to 8-1. Devin Bonin started the rally with a run-scoring single up the middle. Edgeworth plated two more runs with a single of his own, before Nate Moorhouse and Madden each drove in a run to round out the scoring.
The Keydets found the scoreboard once again in the home half, as David Geary's three-run blast to right field pulled VMI within four, 8-4 after two innings of play.
After a scoreless third inning, Mercer continued its onslaught in the fourth. Madden added to his big day, smacking a two-run homer to center to hand the Bears a 10-4 advantage. The Bears pushed two more runs across on Trey Truitt's home run to center field, before Meeder scored on a wild pitch for a 13-4 lead with a three-run sixth.
VMI scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bears would waste no time with an answer. Kyle Lewis hit the team's seventh grand slam of the year, growing the lead to 17-6 with his SoCon-leading 17th home run of 2015.
After the Keydets took advantage of an error to score its seventh run of the game, Mercer would close out the scoring with a RBI single from Truitt in the eighth and a run-scoring single by Ware in the ninth.
Mercer will take on the winner of tonight's Citadel/VMI game in the SoCon Championship semifinals on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m.
