Delano Shines as Mercer Defeats The Citadel

Friday, May 14

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

32-17, 16-6

The Citadel

11-34, 3-21

The Citadel

Mercer

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

5/14/2021 10:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Garett Delano threw a career-high 8.2 innings in the win

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – Graduate Student Garett Delano shined on Friday night as he pitched a career-high 8.2 innings and limited the Bulldogs of The Citadel to three hits in the Bears' 5-1 victory.

Delano did not allow a hit until the fifth inning and did not surrender multiple hits in the same inning. He tallied four strikeouts on the night. RJ Yeager, Angelo DiSpigna, David Burke and Trevor Austin all had two hits to lead the Bears. Yeager led the way with two RBI.

The Bears jumped out to a fast start. In the bottom of the first inning, on the fourth pitch of the game, Yeager hit his 12^th home run of the season on an opposite field shot, putting Mercer ahead, 1-0.

YEAGER BOMB! @rj_yeag1 with the oppo taco!#WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/IYIRrI1DHg
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 14, 2021

The Bears were not done as Brandon Michie followed with a double to left center. After the second out of the inning, DiSpigna doubled to right field, which scored Michie, extending the Bears' lead to 2-0. Collin Price singled home DiSpigna and after one inning of play, Mercer led, 3-0.

Wow, that's a rocket! @AngeloDiSpigna with the RBI double!#WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/XUucQ20ADI
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 14, 2021

The Orange & Black kept attacking at the plate as Burke led off the second with a single, and Austin followed with one of his own. Yeager then picked up his second RBI of the game on a single to right center that scored Burke, growing the lead to 4-0.

.@rj_yeag1 picks up another RBI and grows the Bears lead to 4-0.#WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/7LCS0BNJGX
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 14, 2021

With the Bears' offense clicking, Delano was dealing on the mound as he went three up and three down in each of the first three frames. Delano continued dealing in the fourth inning and got a fly out and ground out for the first two outs. For the final out of the frame, Burke made a diving stop at third the runner out at first to end the inning.

Look at that play by @DavidBurke04! 👀#WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/TZmhy5GY4r
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 14, 2021

The Citadel picked up its first hit of the game leading off the fifth inning when Noah Mitchell doubled down the left field line. After he moved to third on a fly out, Delano locked back in and got the next two hitters out, keeping the Bulldogs scoreless.

The lone run for the Bulldogs came in the seventh inning when Ryan McCarthy hit a solo home run to center field. Following the homer, Delano continued his impressive outing and retired the next three hitters. The Citadel could not figure out Delano in the eighth inning as he had an seven pitch inning, capped by a strike out.

M8 | The Citadel 1, Mercer 4@Garett__Delano with the strikeout to end the inning!#WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/msmeLTWnlc
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 14, 2021

Mercer added one run in the bottom of the eighth inning off reliever Simon Graf. Colby Thomas led the inning off with a four-pitch walk. Burke reached on a sac bunt error to put runners on second and third. After the next two hitters were retired, Yeager was intentionally walked, which loaded the bases. Thomas came into score on a passed ball and Mercer led, 5-1.

The Bulldogs came down to their final three outs in the ninth, and Delano got the first hitter to fly out for the first. After a single to the next hitter put a runner on, Delano got McCarthy to strike out looking. Crosby Jones followed with a walk putting two on. Mercer went to the pen and brought in Luke Sutko who got Mitchell to put out to end the game and giving the Bears a 5-1 win.

Hear from Coach Gibson

🗣 @CraigGibson_MU talks about the Friday night win over The Citadel. #WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/FD8XmZnoEi
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 15, 2021

Records Update
» Mercer: 32-17, 16-6 SoCon
» The Citadel: 11-34, 3-21 SoCon

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Garett Delano (5-1)
» Loss: Jake Pilarski (2-3)
» Save: Luke Sutko (10)

Notables
» Yeager hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning, which was his 12^th of the season. Mercer now has hit a homer in 14 straight games.
» With the win over The Citadel on Friday night, Mercer has won seven straight.
» Garett Delano threw a career-high 8.2 innings in leading the Bears to a victory. His previous career-high was 8.1 innings which he did at Brown.
» Sutko picked up his league leading tenth save on the season.
» Mercer pitching limited The Citadel's offense to three hits over the contest. This is the second straight three-hitter the Bears have thrown in conference play.
» Mercer improves to 25-4 when scoring first in games this season.
» The win for the Bears gives them 32 on the season. Mercer is three wins away from winning 35 games for the 11^th straight season.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. The Citadel ((DH) 2 p.m., Saturday, May 15 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» The Citadel: at Mercer ((DH) 2 p.m., Saturday, May 15 at OrthoGeorgia Park)

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Baseball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBaseball (Twitter), /MercerBaseball (Facebook) and @Mercer.Baseball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.