GREENVILLE, S.C. — Powered by a complete game from starter
Bryce Coulter, The Citadel (34-24) rolled past top-seeded Mercer (44-15) in a 14-4 run-rule victory late Friday morning at Fluor Field. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the Southern Conference Baseball Championship title game for the first time since 2013.
Christian Stratis delivered at the plate, finishing with season-highs in both hits (4) --including a home run -- and RBIs (4) while scoring twice.
Michael Gibson contributed by driving in four runs and crossing home twice on his two hits, marking his fourth straight game with two or more hits and at least two runs scored.
Zach Hunt added two hits as well, good for his second consecutive contest with at least two hits, for a pair of RBIs for the fourth straight game.
Across four games in the SoCon Baseball Championship thus far, The Citadel has scored 57 runs on 66 hits, including 14 doubles and five home runs, and has driven in 53 RBIs. As a unit, the Bulldogs have recorded double-digit hits in all four wins as well, outscoring opponents by a combined 27 runs. Individually, Gibson needs just two more scored runs to match current assistant coach
David Beckley for the most runs in the league tournament (13), a mark set in 1996.
Coulter registered a complete game, pitching all 7.0 innings for the Bulldogs against Mercer. He allowed 10 hits and four earned runs and struck out a career-high five batters. The outing marked Coulter's second win of the season, improving his record to 2-2.
For Mercer, Chris Katz and Michael Graziano each hit a home run. Brant Baughcum went 3-for-3 at the plate. Jeb Johnson took the loss after throwing 2.2 innings, allowing six hits and seven earned runs while striking out two.
"When people describe themselves as Bulldogs, it takes that kind of performance to win a championship, especially in a tournament," head coach
Russell Triplett said. "We dug ourselves a hole earlier in the year by having to play in a play-in game, so our pitching was a little lighter, and we needed a guy to step up. Bryce [Coulter] was tremendous. He had to make some big pitches because there were a couple of innings when it could have gotten away from him, but he made the pitches to get outs.
"Defensively, I thought we stepped up and made big plays. I wanted to get Bryce out of the game earlier, but he wanted the ball. We were kind of going back and forth about taking him out, but having him throw a complete game really helped us as a team, and that's going to help us toward our main goal, which is to win the tournament."
Up next, the Bulldogs will face the winner of No. 2 Western Carolina vs. No. 3 Samford in the title game, scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Fluor Field.
