CHARLESTON, S.C. - James Reeves held Mercer without a hit for the first four innings before the Bears erupted for six runs in the fifth in an 8-1 victory to advance to the championship game of the Southern Conference Tournament at Riley Park.

The Bears (34-21) will go for the SoCon title in their first season in the league on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN3 against the winner of the Samford-Wofford game that will take place later this afternoon. The Terriers knocked off the Bulldogs 12-8 earlier Saturday to force a second game between the two teams.

The Citadel finished with a record of 28-30 after winning 10 of its final 15 games. The Bulldogs won three games in the tournament but lost twice to the SoCon regular season champions.

Reeves tossed a no-hitter against Mercer on April 2 and extended his streak of hitless innings against the Bears to 13, giving up only a pair of walks over the opening four frames. But Danny Edgeworth opened the fifth with a single to center to open up the decisive inning.

Trey Truitt hit a ground rule double to right, Nate Moorhouse walked to load the bases and Matt Meeder and Devin Bonin found outfield grass with bloop singles to produce the first three runs of the inning.

SoCon Player of the Year Kyle Lewis laced a double into the corner in left to drive in two and end the day for Reeves, who was working on three days rest for the first time in his career, and Charlie Madden executed a safety squeeze against Zach Lavery to cap the six-run uprising.

Reeves went 4 1/3 innings and allowed five hits, walked three and struck out four. The redshirt junior southpaw finished the season with a record of 8-4, an ERA of 3.69 and 115 strikeouts.
 
DJ Johnson was dominant on the mound to keep the Bears in the game before their bats finally woke up. The senior right-hander went seven innings, allowing four hits and struck out six without walking a batter. He retired 15 in a row after Ryan Kilgallen and Jacob Watcher singled to lead off the third.

He escaped that jam when Bonin made a diving catch of a two-out pop up by Johnathan Stokes and did not allow another base runner until hitting Steven Hansen and allowing Kilgallen's second hit of the game in the eighth. The Citadel avoided the shutout when William Kinney drove home Hansen with a sacrifice fly off reliever Mitchell Wade.

Edgeworth got that run right back with a two-run homer off Zach Sherrill in the bottom of the eighth. Wade, Morgan Pittman and Austin Lord combined to allow only one hit in two shutout innings of relief.