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CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will host Winthrop for its final home midweek game of the season on Wednesday at Joe Riley Park.
 
The Citadel comes into the midweek contest after defeating Mercer 9-8 on Sunday in Macon, Georgia. The Bulldogs launched five home runs and outhit the nation's home run leaders 35-28 during the series.
 
Winthrop is currently 25-21 overall and 10-8 in Big South action.
 
The Citadel and Winthrop were scheduled to play twice this season but due to rain and cancellations, Wednesday's game will be the only meeting between the two schools this season. The Bulldogs split the series with the Eagles last year, winning 6-5 inside Joe Riley Park and then dropping an 11-4 decision in Rock Hill. Winthrop will be the 10th and penultimate in-state opponent the Bulldogs have faced this season. The final in-state battle comes on May 17 at South Carolina.
 
Zach Lavery is expected to get his first career start on the mound against the Eagles on Wednesday. Live stats and video will be available at CitadelSports.com for the 5 p.m. game.
 
Notes:
• The Citadel defeated Mercer 9-8 on Sunday and with the win have now taken at least one game from the top three teams in the conference.
• The Bulldogs hit leadoff home runs in the first and second innings against Mercer on Thursday. The 'Dogs scored in the first inning of every game of the series, with two of those runs coming courtesy of home runs.
• Between the first and sixth innings of Thursday's game, The Citadel plated a run in every inning except for the fourth.
• On Thursday, The Citadel pitching staff held the nation's home run leaders to just seven hits and outhit the Bears 35-28 over the course of the series.
• Stephen Windham threw out two runners in the game Thursday to run his season total up to 22.
• Taylor Cothran made his second career start on Thursday at Mercer, playing left field for the entirety of the game. Cothran also connected for his first career double in the top of the seventh inning in Friday's game. The sophomore finished the weekend four-for-nine and scored three runs.
• Every starter tallied a hit on Sunday at Mercer for the first time since February 26 against Siena.
• After tallying three hits over the weekend, senior Stephen Windham is just one hit shy of 100 for his career.
• After starting all three games over the weekend, William Kinney has started and played every inning of the 2016 season.
• Zach Lavery will make his first career start on Wednesday. The senior currently has eight saves and 5.87 ERA in 29 appearances this season.
• The Citadel and Winthrop were scheduled to play twice this season but due to rain and cancellations, Wednesday's game will be the only meeting between the two schools this season.
• The Bulldogs split the series with the Eagles last year, winning 6-5 inside Joe Riley Park and then dropping an 11-4 decision in Rock Hill.
• Winthrop will be the 10th and penultimate in-state opponent the Bulldogs have faced this season. The final in-state battle comes on May 17 at South Carolina.
• 2016 marks the 20th year of The Citadel playing along the banks of the Ashley River at Joseph P. Riley Park.
• The first game at the Joe came on April 6, 1997, against Western Carolina and the first pitch was fouled into the marsh. The Bulldogs eventually went on to win the game thanks to a walkoff home run by Ryan Butler.
• Head coach Fred Jordan is the only Citadel skipper to have ever coached at Joe Riley and has amassed a 426-243 (.642) record during his 20 seasons there.
• Including this season, The Citadel has played 669 games at the Joe.
• The largest crowd to ever take in a Citadel game was on April 16, 2014, when the Bulldogs hosted South Carolina in front of 6,500 fans. Earlier this season, 6,298 fans were in attendance for The Citadel's game against the Gamecocks on March 1.
• The Citadel hit five home runs in the series with Mercer, tying the previous season-high five they launched in the series at VMI March 25-27.
• The 35 hits the Bulldogs collected over the weekend at Mercer matches a series high The Citadel previously set April 15-17 at Wofford.
• The Bulldogs have recorded 14 double-digit hit games this season, most recently knocking 14 hits in the series finale at Mercer May 8.
• Stephen Windham and Bret Hines have reached base safely in eight straight games. Hines was one of four Bulldogs, along with Clay Martin, Shy Phillips and William Kinney, to record a hit in every game of the series.
• The Citadel continues to do its damage in the latter half of the game, scoring 135 of its 210 runs after the 5th inning.
• Mike Deese leads the team with 12 multiple-hit games this season and is tied for first on the team with five multiple-RBI games. The senior also boasts a team-best 45 hits this season, including three triples and four home runs.
• The Citadel pitching staff has allowed the second fewest home runs in the Southern Conference this season with 32. Bulldogs' pitchers rank fifth in the conference in ERA (6.19) and batters struck out (353).
• Morgan Foulks pitched 2.0 innings of scoreless and hitless ball, fanning a new career-high four batters against Mercer on May 6.
 
For more information on The Citadel baseball, follow @CitadelBaseball or visit CitadelSports.com.