Game Notes | Overall Stats | Live Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will travel to Elon, North Carolina, this weekend for the first road series of the season.
 
First pitch on Friday from Lantham Park is set for 4 p.m., Saturday's contest will begin at 2 p.m. and the final game of the series will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats will be available for all three games at CitadelSports.com.
 
Notes
• The Citadel split its two midweek contests, defeating Richmond 6-2 on March 9 and dropping a 7-1 decision to USC Upstate on March 8.
• The Bulldogs stifled the third-best hitting team in the country on Wednesday, holding the Spiders to 10 hits. As a team, Richmond came into the contest batting .349 for the year.
• Tuesday's and Wednesday's games mark the second and third time the Bulldogs and their opponent have played errorless ball this season. The first game came on Feb. 19 when The Citadel defeated Virginia Tech in its season opener.
• Freshman Alex Bialakis made his first career start on the mound against Richmond on Wednesday, pitching three strong innings and giving up four hits. The right-hander gave up two runs and struck out three.
• Head coach Fred Jordan debuted his eighth different lineup this season against the Spiders on March 9.
• In the 12 games this season, four Bulldogs have started every contest in the same position: Austin Mapes in RF, Bret Hines at 3B, Drew Ellis at 1B and William Kinney at SS.
• Friday's game against Elon will mark the 48th time since 1965 these two teams have met.
• The Citadel took the series over Elon in Charleston last year, posting wins of 11-8 and 6-1 over the Phoenix.
• In 2014, the two teams met in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament with the Bulldogs taking the 10-7 victory.
• This weekend marks the first road series of the season for the Bulldogs and their first game of the season not in the Lowcountry.
• The Watcher brothers, Jacob and Philip, have played in every game this season either at second base or on the mound.
• Mike Deese is batting a team-best .351 this season with 13 hits and 19 total bases. The senior has appeared in 10 games and recorded a team-high five multiple-hit games.
• Drew Ellis recorded the lone RBI on Tuesday against USC Upstate and leads the team with three multiple-RBI games. The sophomore is tied for sixth in the conference with 14 RBI this year.
• For the first time since February of last season, six or more players recorded multiple hits for the Bulldogs on March 6 against the College of Charleston.
• Clay Martin got his first start of the season on March 4 and proceeded to play in every game of the series against CofC. Martin recorded four hits over the weekend including three on Sunday against the Cougars. The sophomore is batting .417 this season and has appeared in seven games.
• Kyle Smith was clutch with runners in scoring position in the eighth inning of both midweek games. Smith kept USC Upstate from tacking on any more runs on Tuesday with a strikeout to end the frame and then struck out the last two batters in the inning against Richmond with runners on first and second to preserve the Bulldogs 4-2 lead.
• The pitching combination of Thomas Byelick and Zach Lavery has worked well for the Bulldogs this season. In two of the three Saturday games this season, the duo have been the only pitchers to take the mound for the Bulldogs. Those two contests, against Siena on Feb. 27 and CofC on March 5, are the only games that the Bulldogs have only used two pitchers.
• In eight appearances this season, Zach Lavery has 10 strikeouts in 9.0 innings pitched. The senior picked up his first win of the season in relief on Feb. 27.  He is also first in the conference with eight games finished and three saves.
• The Citadel is currently second in the Southern Conference with a 4.29 ERA. The Bulldogs have allowed 59 runs in 107.0 innings. The pitching staff also holds a game-high in the SoCon with 17 total strikeouts that came on Feb. 19 against Virginia Tech.
• Thomas Byelick continues to be dominant on the mound this season, allowing just one run to cross the plate on Saturday against CofC. He is currently fifth in the conference with a 1.71 ERA. Byelick is also second in the SoCon with 21.0 innings pitched
• After fanning three batters on March 4, JP Sears now has 101 strikeouts in his career. The sophomore is 2-1 this season with a 1.62 ERA.
• Sears is tied for third in the SoCon with a 1.62 ERA and fourth in the conference with opposing batters averaging .206 against him. He has pitched 16.2 innings in three appearances.
 
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