Mercer, Samford to square off for SoCon title

G12: No. 3 Wofford 12, No. 2 Samford 8

CHARLESTON, S.C. – No. 3 seed Wofford remained alive in the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties, topping No. 2 seed Samford on Saturday, 12-8, to force a second game later in the day to determine who advances to Sunday’s title game at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

Wofford (39-21) will be vying for its first title game appearance since 2007, when it won its only SoCon title. Samford (31-25) is trying to reach the title tilt for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The teams will meet again at 5 p.m.

Every starter collected at least one hit for the Terriers, who saw their 5 through 9 hitters go a combined 11-for-22 with seven RBIs. Carson Waln and Derek Hirsch had three hits each, while Kody Ruedisili and Max McDougald had two apiece.

Samford was led by Danny Rodriguez, who was 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Austin Edens had three hits and Hunter Swilling, Jared Watson and Richard Greene had two each.

The Terriers seized momentum with a six-run third inning to flip a 3-2 deficit into an 8-3 lead. The big blow in the frame was McDougald’s two-run ground-rule double, while Waln and Ruedisili also had RBI hits. Another run scored on a sacrifice bunt and the sixth run of the inning came home on a delayed double steal. Three of the six runs were unearned after a one-out error.

Wofford tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before Samford plated three in the seventh to close to within four at 10-6. Rodriguez had an RBI single and Greene hit a two-run double to the gap in right center.

Conor Clancey drove in a run on an infield hit in the seventh and Matt Ramsay made it 12-5 with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.

Samford got two runs back in the ninth on solo homers by Rodriguez and T.J. Dixon, but it was too little, too late.

Wofford got off to a 2-0 start with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but Samford took its lone lead of the day with three runs in the third.

Each team squandered several scoring chances, leaving 12 runners on base each. Samford left the bases loaded in the second and fifth innings, while Wofford did so in the fifth and eighth. The Terriers loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth, but reliever Devan Traglia came in and got a fielder’s choice and two strikeouts to hold Wofford to just one run in the frame.

Wofford’s Matthew Milburn improved to 10-3 on the season, allowing six runs on 12 hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven. He became the sixth pitcher in school history to reach the 10-win mark and the first since Ben Austin had 11 in 2007.

Bulldog starter Eric Wright (2-4) took the loss, allowing seven runs (five earned) on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.

G13: No. 1 Mercer 8, No. 8 The Citadel 1

CHARLESTON, S.C. – DJ Johnson pitched seven strong innings as No. 1 seed Mercer topped No. 8 seed The Citadel 8-1 Saturday to advance to Sunday’s title game of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The Bears (34-21) will face either No. 2 seed Samford or No. 3 seed Wofford for the SoCon’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. Samford and Wofford face off at 5 p.m. Saturday for the right to play Mercer. Sunday’s championship game will air on ESPN3 at 2 p.m.

The Citadel sees its season end at 28-30.

Johnson turned in a solid outing on the mound for the Bears, allowing just the one run on four hits in seven innings of work. He struck out six to improve to 2-3 on the season and send Mercer into the SoCon title game in its first season in the league.

The Bulldogs were in control early, as starter and SoCon Pitcher of the Year James Reeves, who no-hit Mercer on April 2, continued to stymie the Bears through the early innings Saturday. Mercer finally broke through in the fifth inning, as Danny Edgeworth dropped a bloop single into left-center to snap Reeves’ streak of 13 hitless innings against the Bears.

That hit opened the floodgates, as one out later, Trey Truitt hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line. After a walk, Matt Meeder singled to drive in Edgeworth, and Devin Bonin followed with a two-run single to center. SoCon Player of the Year Kyle Lewis then scorched a double to the left-field corner to score Bonin and Meeder, knocking Reeves from the game.

Lewis would later score on a sacrifice bunt to close the book on Reeves (8-4), who was charged with six runs on five hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the eighth on William Kinney’s sacrifice fly, but Mercer answered in the bottom half with Edgeworth’s two-run home run.

Edgeworth had the Bears’ lone multiple-hit game, as he was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Stephen Windham and Ryan Kilgallen had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs, whose only other hit on the afternoon came from Jacob Watcher.

Mercer becomes the first SoCon school to reach the title game in its first season in the league since UNCG did so in 1998 and just the second overall. The Bears could become the first to win the tournament in their first season in the SoCon.

G14: No. 2 Samford 25, No. 3 Wofford 4

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Heath Quinn set a tournament single-game record with eight RBIs and No. 2 seed Samford set a single-game record for runs scored in a 25-4 win over No. 3 Wofford on Saturday to earn a spot in Sunday’s title game of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The Bulldogs (32-35) will face No. 1 seed Mercer on Sunday at 2 p.m. with the SoCon’s automatic NCAA Regionals berth on the line. The game will air live on ESPN3. Samford will be making its fourth title game appearance in the last five seasons. Mercer, in its first season in the league, will be making its first appearance.

All told, the Bulldogs set or matched five tournament records on the day, with Quinn and Austin Edens hitting two home runs each to match that single-game tournament record and the team surpassing the previous RBI record of 21 with 25 on the afternoon. The 21-run margin of victory was also a record.

Quinn had five RBIs in the first inning alone, hitting an RBI single and a grand slam. He added two more RBIs on a single in the second and finished the day 4-for-6 with the record eight RBIs and four runs scored.

Edens was 3-for-6 with five RBIs and three runs scored, while Danny Rodriguez finished 3-for-6 and matched the previous single-game record with six RBIs. Hunter Swilling had just one hit but reached base four times, scoring all four times.

Samford put the game out of reach early, scoring 10 runs in the first inning and nine in the second to take a 19-2 lead. All nine runs in the second inning came with two outs, with Samford catcher Richard Greene making the second and third outs as the Bulldogs batted around for the second straight inning.

Quinn, the 2014 SoCon Freshman of the Year, and Edens, the 2015 Freshman of the Year, hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning before Wofford pushed across a pair of runs in the eighth to stop a stretch of 21 straight Samford runs. The Terriers scored on error and a Conor Clancey RBI single.

Samford added four more runs in the bottom half of the frame on run-scoring doubles by Edens, Brandon Powell and Rodriguez.

Wofford (39-22) briefly held a lead early, scoring twice in the first on a Clancey sacrifice fly and a Carson Waln RBI single.

James Plaisted finished 3-for-5 for Wofford, while Clancey was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Samford roughed up Wofford starter Connell Anderson (4-1) for six runs (four earned) on four hits and a walk in 1/3 of an inning.

Mark Donham (1-2) picked up the win for Samford, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out four.

Samford, which entered the SoCon in 2008-09, and Mercer will be meeting in a conference tournament for the second time, as the Bulldogs beat the Bears 6-0 in 1997 when both schools were members of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

May 19 (Tuesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (all games on SDN)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 8, #9 ETSU 2

May 20 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (all games on SDN)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 2: #2 Samford 8, #7 Western Carolina 7 (10 inn.)
Game 3: #3 Wofford vs. #6 Furman, susp.

May 21 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (all games on SDN)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 4: #1 Mercer 3, #8 The Citadel 2
Game 5: #4 VMI 6, #5 UNCG 5
Game 3: #3 Wofford 16, #6 Furman 7
Game 6: #8 The Citadel 8, #5 UNCG 4
Game 7: #6 Furman 12, #7 Western Carolina 4

May 22 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (all games on SDN)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 8: #2 Samford 4, #3 Wofford 3
Game 9: #1 Mercer 19, #4 VMI 7
Game 10: #3 Wofford 1, #6 Furman 0
Game 11: #8 The Citadel 10, #4 VMI 5

May 23 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (all games on SDN)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 12: #3 Wofford 12, #2 Samford 8
Game 13: #1 Mercer 8, #8 The Citadel 1
Game 14: #2 Samford 25, #3 Wofford 4

May 24 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties (ESPN3)
(Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park; Charleston, S.C.)
Game 15: #1 Mercer vs. #2 Samford    2 p.m.