CHARLESTON, S.C. - On a cool Friday night in Lexington, Virginia, The Citadel pitcher JP Sears induced a fourth-inning pop up that got caught in the brisk winds at VMI's Gray-Minor Stadium and skirted over the right field wall for a Keydet solo home run. When Sears and catcher Stephen Windham met on the mound before the next at-bat, the pair simply smiled and shrugged it off, and with good reason.
 
Sears was cruising on the mound behind a 7-0 cushion until the homer, pounding the strike zone with efficient command of his fastball while mixing in knee-buckling breaking pitches. The left-handed ace was all but unhittable. A solo home run didn't slow down Sears' momentum. Instead it ramped up a notch as he channeled the confidence and determination that has defined Bulldog pitchers for decades. 

Sears fanned the next seven batters with a devastating array of pitches and pinpoint location. He went on to retire the last 15 batters he faced, striking out 13 of them to finish with 19 Ks on the evening, one shy of The Citadel's single-game record of 20 set by Rodney Hancock in 1999.
 
"JP established three pitches from the start and accumulated a number of punchouts because of it," head coach Fred Jordan said. "It was the perfect storm in that they had five left-handed guys in the lineup and he established a slider and a changeup. They were just unable to sit on one pitch and he was very effective."
 
It was the most dominant outing recorded by any pitcher in the NCAA so far this season and Sears' special night earned him conference and national recognition. Yet, the sophomore hurler is the first to say a historic performance like that takes more than a pitcher. It takes a total team effort.
 

TRADITION
 
"Pitching is a staple of our program at The Citadel," said current Bulldog assistant coach Britt Reames. "You win with good pitching and defense and a timely hit here and there. It's been that way since day one here for me back when Coach Jordan was my pitching coach."
 
Jordan, who now boasts 810 wins and counting all at The Citadel, has built his successful program with that philosophy as the groundwork. The Bulldogs have had eight Southern Conference Pitchers of the Year since Jordan took over in 1992. During his career, 35 Bulldogs have gone on to play professional baseball, including 20 pitchers.
 
Just last spring three hurlers from The Citadel, James Reeves, Skylar Hunter and Austin Mason, were all selected in the top 20 rounds of the 2015 MLB Draft. Reeves' career was punctuated with a no-hitter nearly one year ago vs. Mercer. Many compared the excitement of that performance to Sears' 19-strikeout jaw-dropper last Friday.
 

"I was a part of Reeves' no-hitter and so was JP," Reames said. "James Reeves was JP's mentor. They're both left-handed Friday-night starters. JP wanted to follow in Reeves' footsteps last year and get to this point and here he is. We all strive to be a Friday night go-to guy as a pitcher and JP is no different."
 
Sears earned his role as the ace of the staff through hard work on the mound. That's the culture at The Citadel, even for a freshman like Sears in 2015, who competed for playing time alongside three eventual professional pitchers. This season, it's his chance to shine as the leader on the staff and his hard work shined bright during Friday night's dominance over VMI.
 
"JP is a very self-motivated guy and he pitched his way into the rotation as a freshman, which is what most of our eventual Friday-night starters do," Coach Jordan said. "Now it's his turn and he has embraced the role. We have a rich tradition of pitching here and always have and it's very gratifying seeing a young man like JP go out on the road and have the type of performance he did."
 
With a 4-1 record, 2.21 ERA and a 3.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a sophomore, Sears is well on his way to joining the long list of Citadel's decorated pitchers during Jordan's tenure.
 
 
ONE-UPPED
 
For Sears, the 19-strikeout performance was all about execution. He says he blocked everything out, didn't worry about numbers and just executed each pitch Coach Reames called.

And on a night like this, when each swing-and-a-miss inched Sears closer to history, it helped to have a coach in his corner who's not only a former Bulldog, but also a guy who had been there before. On April 27, 1995, Reames faced Marshall University in the Southern Conference Tournament and proceeded to fan 18 batters, at the time the second-highest single-game strikeout total in program history.  

Reames was drafted later that year by the St. Louis Cardinals and is still the only player from The Citadel to ever earn a win in a MLB postseason game. Now, he's teaching and developing Bulldogs in his fifth season as Jordan's pitching coach. Friday, he was able to help Sears keep batters off balance with different pitch selections and pave the way for an unforgettable night more than 20 years after he nearly made Citadel history. Except, Sears didn't just match Reames' performance, he beat it. 
 
"We laughed about it," Sears said. "We compared the two games. We both gave up solo home runs and he finished with 18 strikeouts and I finished with 19. It was fun to talk about that and share it."
 
When asked about JP edging him by one strikeout, Reames just smiled.
 
"It's pretty cool JP can say he one-upped me now," Reames said.
 
 

COMFORTABLE & CONFIDENT
 
A Friday night clash on the road against a conference rival began like any pitcher would expect. Sears was forced to labor through a tough first inning as VMI smacked back-to-back leadoff singles and eventually loaded the bases with one out.
 
"Coach Jordan always says just get out of the first inning, if you can get out of the first without giving up runs, it's really big and it sets the tone for the game," Sears said.
 
Sears did just that, freezing the next batter on a called strike three and fanning the hitter after that with a breakaway slider to end the threat. He had escaped the first and built up confidence. Then came the run support. The Bulldogs rallied to plate two runs each in the second, third and fourth innings and Sears was handed a 7-0 lead by the time he jogged to the hill for the fourth. 
 
"Run support settles you in," Windham said. "Especially on a Friday night, both pitchers are going to be very good so you have to come out swinging offensively. We put up some runs early and never cooled off. It got JP in the zone because he knew he had a lead and he could just pound the zone." 

 
Sears knew the coaches' rule: with a big lead, no walks!  So, he didn't. He retired 15 of the next 16 batters without surrendering a single free pass.
 
"When you have a lead, just throw strikes," Sears said. "I was able to just be comfortable knowing that I had a lead and it wasn't necessary to strike everyone out. I never needed a perfect pitch and it helped me cruise because I knew I had a good defense behind me that will make plays."
 
From the fifth inning to the eighth inning, VMI managed to hit just one ball into fair play, a weak grounder to shortstop for a putout. Sears never had to pitch out of the stretch for those final four innings of work and simply got in a rhythm in the windup. In the fifth, he struck out the side, with two of the Ks coming on gutsy 3-2 pitches.
 
After a 1-2-3 sixth inning, VMI tried to insert a pinch-hitter in the seventh to shake up Sears' momentum. Sears sat him down on five pitches, fanned the next batter and induced a first-pitch foul pop-up to the final hitter. In his eighth and final inning on the mound, he promptly struck out all three Keydets swinging  --  strikeouts 17, 18 and 19. With pitches mounting, 117 of them to be exact, his day was done. He fell one strikeout shy of tying the school record.
 
"I knew that I was striking out a lot of guys, but obviously I was not counting as the game went on," Sears said. "I don't worry about that until after the game. It was just another opportunity to give my team a chance to win. I had a job to do and that's it."
 
It was just another day on the mound for Sears. The number 19 didn't matter. Only one win.
 
 
DUCKS
 
The culture that Coach Jordan has created at The Citadel is all about business, especially with pitching. It's bearing down to escape a first-inning jam. It's laughing off a home run and striking out the side. It's facing the lineup for the third time around and sitting all nine batters down. It's not worrying about records mid-game. It's a total team effort.
 
As a former Bulldog, Coach Reames understands that approach and says it's easy to rub off on others. 
 
"Pitching is like ducks," Reames said. "When a guy pitches like JP did, the others fall in behind him and pitch well. The Saturday starter wants to match the Friday guy and the Sunday starter wants to match the Saturday guy. It's a trickle-down effect. If we have that going, we're tough on the weekends."
 
Sears and the Bulldogs were tough to handle in their Southern Conference-opening series, leaving VMI with a 2-1 record in league play. Now, as the conference slate heats up, they'll turn to their ace on the mound each Friday night to set the tone and challenge others to work toward being in that role, just like he did in 2015 and others before that.