Mercer University
36-21
The Citadel
17-41
Mercer Powers Past The Citadel, 13-1, Behind Six Home Runs
5/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Mercer University baseball team exploded for 15 hits and six home runs in a 13-1 victory over The Citadel in the opening round of the Southern Conference Championship on Wednesday at Fluor Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer turned to the long ball in the bottom of the third inning to take a 2-0 advantage, behind solo home runs from Jackson Ware and Trey Truitt. The Bears were just getting started though, as they unloaded in the fourth with nine runs.
Ryan Hagan started the fireworks in the fourth with a two-run shot to left field, before Matt Meeder's bunt single plated Hunter Bening for a 5-0 advantage. Truitt followed with a three-run shot to left center and Kyle Lewis' 461-foot two-run bomb pushed the lead to 10-0. Charlie Madden wrapped up the nine-run frame with a RBI single for an 11-0 advantage.
Truitt broke the SoCon Championship single-game home run record with his third long ball in the fifth, blasting a shot over the green monster in left for a 13-0 lead. The Citadel broke up Mercer's shutout bid with a run in the sixth to round out the scoring.
Ryan Askew was effective on the mound for Mercer, tossing five scoreless frames of three-hit ball while striking out four batters. A trio of relievers – Josh Knies, Austin Cox and Taylor Lobus – wrapped up the final two innings.
The contest ended in the seventh inning, due to reaching the tournament's mercy rule.
KEY TO THE GAME
The Bears utilized the long ball in Wednesday's opener, as their six home runs were one shy of tying the all-time SoCon Championship record of seven, set by Western Carolina in 1988. 11 of the Orange and Black's 13 runs came via the long ball. The power surge helped Mercer score nine runs in a key fourth inning, the fourth time this season the team has scored eight or more runs in a frame.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Trey Truitt made an early case for the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, setting a tournament record with three home runs to pace the Bears' high-powered attack on Wednesday. The sophomore singled in his first at-bat, before hitting three-straight homers to finish 4-for-5 with a career-high six RBIs. He now has 17 home runs on the season thanks to his 26th multiple-hit performance and 14th game with two or more RBIs.
COACH GIBSON'S TAKE
"Certainly great to get off to a good start in tournament play. Ryan Askew got us off to a great start...pretty much the whole season he's given us a quality start week in and week out. We were able to score a few runs early to settle in and play good baseball. We had great success against a guy who beat us early in the season, so that meant a lot."
"To face Greensboro in that last regular season series where it meant a lot has us tested for tournament time. Momentum is a huge thing in this game and we've got a little bit of that going for us right now."
TREY TRUITT'S TAKE
"I just tried staying calm in my at-bats and focused on keeping the same approach. Two of the home runs were when I was behind in the count, so I tried to go up there and calm things down by putting the bat on the ball."
NOTABLES
- Mercer is now 5-0 all-time in SoCon Championship play.
- The seven-inning contest is the first game in SoCon Championship history to induce the mercy rule.
- The Bears are 16-7 in conference tournament openers, including 8-3 under head coach Craig Gibson.
- The Orange and Black averaged 397.6 feet on their six home runs in the game.
- Mercer reached double-figure runs for the 16th time this season, improving to 14-2 in those contests.
- The Bears' 15 hits marked the 33 contest that they have eclipsed 10 hits. Mercer is 26-7 in those contests.
- Truitt's three home runs are a SoCon Tournament single-game record, breaking the former mark of two, which had been reached 37 times.
- Ryan Askew improved to 6-2 with five innings of shutout ball, as he limited the Bulldogs to three hits with four strikeouts.
- Mercer improves to 9-1 this season when holding opponents to less than three runs.
- Danny Edgeworth pushed his on-base streak to a career-high 21 games, going 2-for-4 at the dish for his 16th multiple-hit effort of the year.
- Madden finished 2-for-3 on the afternoon, his 12th contest this season with two or more hits.
- Hagan picked up a pair of RBIs in a 1-for-3 performance, marking the 12th time he's had a multi-RBI game this season.
- Meeder finished 2-for-3 on his way to his 13th multiple-hit contest of the season.
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer moves to 36-21 overall while The Citadel drops to 17-41 on the season.
UP NEXT
The Bears will take on No. 4 seed Furman at 4 p.m. on Thursday in the second round of the SoCon Championship at Fluor Field. The Paladins defeated ETSU, 3-0, earlier on Wednesday behind a complete-game shutout performance by Will Gaddis.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Askew, Ryan (6-2)
L: Jacob Watcher (6-5)
Batting:
RBI: Stephen Windham 1
Base Running:
RUNS: William Kinney 1
Batting:
2B: Lezynski, Blaise 1 ; Meeder, Matt 1
HR: Truitt, Trey 3 ; Lewis, Kyle 1 ; Hagan, Ryan 1 ; Ware, Jackson 1
RBI: Truitt, Trey 6 ; Lewis, Kyle 2 ; Madden, Charlie 1 ; Hagan, Ryan 2 ; Ware, Jackson 1 ; Meeder, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Truitt, Trey 3 ; Edgeworth, Danny 1 ; Lewis, Kyle 1 ; Lezynski, Blaise 1 ; Madden, Charlie 1 ; Hagan, Ryan 1 ; Bening, Hunter 1 ; Ware, Jackson 2 ; Meeder, Matt 2
HBP: Lewis, Kyle 1 ; Joe, Howard 1
