Game Notes | Overall Stats | Live Stats | Video | Audio
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will travel to Macon, Georgia, for a three-game Southern Conference series against Mercer beginning on Thursday.
The Citadel and Mercer met on the diamond at Joe Riley Park five times last season with the first matchup coming on April 2, 2015, when
James Reeves tossed the sixth no-hitter in The Citadel history.
Mercer is currently 28-17 and tied with the Western Carolina Catamounts, who the Bulldogs took two of three from two weeks ago, at second in the SoCon standings with a 12-6 record.
Live stats, audio and video will be available at CitadelSports.com for the 6 p.m. games on Thursday and Friday. Sunday's contest, slated for 1 p.m., will have live stats and audio available at CitadelSports.com. All three games will be played at Claude Smith Field.
Notes:
• In game one of the doubleheader against Furman,
Jason Smith went three-for-five with one run scored and
Barrett Charpia collected two hits of his own.
JP Sears got the start on the mound, striking out three over 5.0 innings of work.
Jordan Buster,
Kyle Smith and
Beau Strickland pitched the remaining four innings in relief.
• In game two,
Thomas Byelick made his 11th start this season and tossed 5.1 innings while fanning three. Freshman
Dylan Spence worked 1.2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out two.
Zach Lavery also pitched an inning and
Kyle Smith closed the game out for his second appearance of the day on the mound. Smith was the only pitcher to pitch in every game of the series.
•
Stephen Windham and
Ben Peden each finished with two hits in the second game of the day.
Barrett Charpia and Windham both had two RBI and
Jason Smith and Charpia each scored twice.
Mike Deese,
Shy Phillips,
Bret Hines, Peden, Charpia and Smith all collected at least one hit in both games.
•
Barrett Charpia hit the third home run of his career in the second game of the Saturday doubleheader against Furman, tying him with
Ben Peden and
Mike Deese with the most home runs on the team this season. Charpia leads the team with a .500 slugging percentage.
•
William Kinney has played every inning of every game this season, starting all 45 contests at shortstop.
• The Citadel and Mercer squared off five times last season with three games coming in the regular season and two in the postseason at the Southern Conference tournament. All five of the games were played inside Joe Riley Park.
• In the first matchup of the 2015 season between the two schools,
James Reeves threw just the sixth no-hitter in school history, striking out 14 en route to the 4-0 win.
• Sophomore
JP Sears recorded the first double-digit strikeout game of his career against Mercer on May 21, fanning 10 Bears in 5.1 innings of work.
• 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 Bulldogs have recorded 11 double-digit hit games this season, most recently knocking 10 hits in the first game of the doubleheader against Furman on April 30.
• The Citadel continues to do its damage in the latter half of the game, scoring 98 of its 190 runs after the 5th inning.
•
Mike Deese leads the team with 11 multiple-hit games this season and is tied for second on the team with four multiple-RBI games. The senior also boasts a team-best 43 hits this season, including three triples and three home runs.
• The Citadel pitching staff has allowed the fewest home runs in the Southern Conference this season with 24. They rank fifth in the conference in ERA (6.08) and batters struck out (332).
For more information on The Citadel baseball, follow @CitadelBaseball or visit CitadelSports.com.
