Furman, Mercer advance at baseball tourney

No. 4 Furman 3, No. 5 ETSU 0

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year Will Gaddis threw a four-hit shutout to lead fourth-seeded Furman past No. 5 seed ETSU, 3-0, in Wednesday’s first game of the SoCon Baseball Championship at Fluor Field.

The Paladins improved to 28-28 and advance to face either No. 1 seed Mercer or No. 8 seed The Citadel on Thursday at 4 p.m. ETSU fell to 26-29 and will face either Mercer or The Citadel on Thursday at 9 a.m. in an elimination game.

Gaddis allowed just four singles and a walk, striking out eight to improve to 10-3 on the year and become just the fourth Paladin pitcher to ever reach double figures in wins in a season. He lowered his seasonal ERA to 3.45 in throwing Furman’s first shutout in SoCon tournament play since Jeff Stovall blanked The Citadel 6-0 in 2002.

Gaddis was backed by a fifth-inning solo home run by Griffin Davis and a two-run single by Sky Overton in the seventh.

With Gaddis and counterpart Lee Haeberle locked in a scoreless pitchers’ duel, Davis opened the scoring with his long bomb to left-center field to lead off the fifth. Andrew McLatchie then drew a walk and went to third on a sacrifice and a flyout, but Haeberle got one of his five strikeouts on the day to escape further damage.

The Paladins, victorious now in 13 of their last 17 contests, left the bases loaded in the sixth before finally getting some breathing room in the seventh. With Matt Towarnicky and Sims Griffith aboard after singles, Overton singled up the middle with two outs to give Gaddis more than enough cushion.

The Bucs’ best scoring chance of the day came early, as Aaron Maher and Kevin Phillips led off the second inning with consecutive singles before a Blake Rowlett sacrifice moved both into scoring position. Gaddis, facing what would prove to be his only real adversity of the day, got a flyout and a groundout to keep the game scoreless.

Gaddis faced only two batters over the minimum the rest of the way, as his defense turned double plays behind him to erase singles in the seventh and eighth innings.

The sophomore right-hander needed only 99 pitches for his second complete game of the season and first shutout of his career. The game was completed in a tidy 2 hours, 8 minutes.

Furman’s Jake Crawford finished 2-for-4 for the only multi-hit outing of the game for either team.

Haeberle (4-4) was charged with one run on three hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Simpler worked the final 2 2/3, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

 

No. 1 Mercer 13, No. 8 The Citadel 1 (7 innings)

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Mercer outfielder Trey Truitt set a Southern Conference Baseball Championship single-game record with three home runs as the top-seeded Bears clubbed No. 8 seed The Citadel 13-1 in seven innings Wednesday at Fluor Field.

Mercer (36-21) hit six home runs overall, one shy of the tournament’s single-game record, en route to the mercy-rule victory. The defending champion Bears will face No. 4 seed Furman, a 3-0 winner over No. 5 seed ETSU in Wednesday’s first game, Thursday at 4 p.m. The Citadel (17-41) will face ETSU in an elimination game at 9 a.m. Thursday.

The Bears’ six homers averaged just shy of 398 feet each, with three of them going over 400. Two-time SoCon Player of the Year Kyle Lewis’ fourth-inning blast went an estimated 461 feet.

Jackson Ware and Truitt hit solo homers to stake Mercer starter Ryan Askew to a 2-0 lead in the third inning before the Bears blew things open with a nine-run fourth. Mercer sent 14 batters to the plate in the frame, getting homers from Ryan Hagan, Truitt and Lewis as The Citadel used three pitchers in the inning.

Hagan’s two-run homer off the building beyond the Green Monster started things, and after Matt Meeder’s RBI bunt single chased starter Jacob Watcher, Truitt hit a three-run blast to make it 8-0. After a Danny Edgeworth single, Lewis crushed an 0-1 offering over the batter’s eye in dead center to put the game into run-rule territory. A Charlie Madden RBI single later in the inning made it 11-0 after four.

Truitt struck again in the fifth inning, hitting a two-run shot to make it 13-1 and bringing his totals to four hits and six RBIs on the day.

The Citadel avoided the shutout in the sixth, scoring an unearned run when Stephen Windham drove in William Kinney, who reached on an error to start the inning.

Edgeworth, Madden and Meeder had two hits each for Mercer, while The Citadel’s Clay Martin had the Bulldogs’ lone multi-hit day.

Askew (6-2) allowed three hits in five innings of work, striking out four. Watcher (7-6) took the loss after surrendering seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

The SoCon Baseball Championship resumes at 4 p.m. with No. 2 seed Western Carolina taking on No. 7 seed Wofford.

May 24 (Tuesday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel 3, #9 VMI 2 (10 innings)

May 25 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 2: #4 Furman 3, #5 ETSU 0
Game 3: #1 Mercer 13, #8 The Citadel 1 (7 innings)
Game 4: #2 Western Carolina vs. #7 Wofford 4 p.m.
Game 5: #3 UNCG vs. #6 Samford 7:30 p.m.

May 26 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 6: #5 ETSU vs. #8 The Citadel 9 a.m.
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5 12:30 p.m.
Game 8: #4 Furman vs. #1 Mercer 4 p.m.
Game 9: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 7:30 p.m.

May 27 (Friday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 9 3:30 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 7 p.m.

May 28 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 12 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11 3:30 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 13 vs. Loser Game 12 7 p.m.

May 29 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship (ESPN3)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 15: Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 14 1 p.m.
^Game 16: Winner Game 15 vs. Loser Game 15 60 minutes after Game 15

^ if necessary

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