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CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will travel to VMI for a three-game series beginning on Friday in Lexington, Virginia. The series marks the beginning of Southern Conference play for the Bulldogs.
 
The Citadel (9-12) makes the trip up north after dropping its midweek contest to USC Upstate on Tuesday. Two Bulldogs, Taylor Cothran and Cole Buffington, recorded their first hits of the season against the Spartans.
 
Junior Beau Strickland tossed a scoreless frame and struck out one in relief for The Citadel.
 
VMI, having dropped both of its midweek games on the road, stands at 13-11 overall this season.
 
First pitch Friday is slated for 6 p.m., Saturday's game will start at 4 p.m. and the series finale on Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at CitadelSports.com for all three games.
 
Notes:
• The Citadel dropped its midweek matchup on Tuesday at USC Upstate 14-1.
• Two Bulldogs registered their first hits of the season as Taylor Cothran hit a leadoff single to left field in seventh inning and then eventually came around to score the only run in the game for The Citadel and Cole Buffington recorded his first collegiate hit in the eighth inning on a single to left field.
• 15 Bulldogs saw the field in the Tuesday contest, the most head coach Fred Jordan has used in a game this season.
• The Citadel scored its only run of the game in the seventh inning, bringing its season total of runs scored in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to 49 out of 92 total.
• This will be the first Southern Conference series of the year for The Citadel.
• The Bulldogs and Keydets squared off four times last season with the last matchup coming in the Southern Conference tournament which The Citadel took 10-5.
• In last year's matchup in the SoCon tournament on May 22, Drew Ellis went three-for-five with a home run, three RBI and two runs. Steven Hansen also had a strong showing against the Keydets, finishing the day two-for-five with two RBI and one run scored.
• The Bulldogs also racked up 14 hits against VMI in the contest.
• Senior Zach Lavery ranks among the top-two in four categories in the SoCon and is ranked in the top-40 of two national categories.
• The Goose Creek, South Carolina, native is second with 14 appearances and 14 games in relief. He leads the conference with 10 games finished and picked up his fourth save over the weekend, pitching 2.0 scoreless innings in the 2-1 victory over the Blue Hose. With the save, the senior is tied for second in the conference with Taylor Edens of VMI.
• The righty is tied for second in the country with 14 appearances.
• Lavery has 14 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched and holds a 4.86 ERA.
• Mike Deese tallied his first career triple in the first inning of Sunday's 7-2 victory over Presbyterian.
• William Kinney has extended his reached base streak to a team-best nine games. The sophomore has 13 hits this season and nine RBI after going three-for-four on March 19 against the Blue Hose. He is also one of only three Bulldogs who have started every game this year with Bret Hines and Austin Mapes also having started all 20 contests.
• Mike Deese has been the most consistent Bulldog at the plate this year, leading the team with 16 runs and 28 total bases, and is tied for first on the team with 19 hits. The senior also holds the squad's second-best batting average (.284) and best slugging percentage (.418).
• After stealing second and third in the eighth inning against Presbyterian on March 20, Jason Smith is a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.
• Sophomore Jordan Buster pitched 2.2 innings in relief on March 20 and got the Bulldogs out of two bases-loaded jams in consecutive innings. In the top of the sixth, the sophomore induced two fly outs to end the Blue Hose scoring threat and then he ended the seventh by fanning the last batter. The 2.2 innings stint is the longest of his career.
• The Citadel had two freshmen pitchers throw solid innings in relief against Clemson on March 15-16. Jordan Merritt eclipsed new career-highs against the Tigers on March 15, striking out four batters and giving up just two hits over 2.2 innings of work. Dylan Spence, making just his fourth appearance this season, struck out a career-best seven of the 14 batters he faced and allowed one run in 3.0 innings.
• JP Sears and Thomas Byelick rank third and eighth, respectively, in the conference in ERA. Sears currently holds a 2.51 ERA with Byelick at 3.09. Sears is also ranked third in opposing batting average, holding opponents to a .204 average
• Kyle Smith has been clutch with runners in scoring position this year. Smith kept USC Upstate from tacking on any more runs on March 8 with a strikeout to end the frame and then struck out the last two batters in the inning against Richmond on March 9 with runners on first and second to preserve the Bulldogs' 4-2 lead.
• Thomas Byelick has pitched 32.0 innings this season, the fifth-most in the conference.
• JP Sears reached the 100-career strikeout mark on March 4 and after fanning three on March 18, now has 110 strikeouts for his career.
 
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