When a team posts 16 runs on 13 hits with seven different players in its lineup recording a base knock of some type, that's living life right.

It's also a terrific way to start postseason tournament competition -- and the Shawnee State Bears' baseball program did just that Thursday morning as Shawnee State scored in six out of the eight innings it came to bat in a convincing 16-6 triumph over West Virginia Tech.

The victory, which came of the mercy rule variety, moved to 26-19 overall and advanced the Bears into Friday's winner's bracket in its pod in the first contest of the River States Conference Baseball Championship Tournament, which is being held at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.

Thursday morning's win for Shawnee State marked the 12th straight for the Bears, who have scored five games of 10 or more runs during their torrid winning streak and 14 runs or more in four of those triumphs. Shawnee State has also held its opposition to three runs or less in eight out of the last 12 contests during the winning streak.

Highlights

After sitting scoreless following the opening inning of play, Shawnee State made West Virginia Tech pay dearly in the bottom of the second inning as the Bears scored all six of its runs with two outs in the frame.

Following a walk by Zach Gaspar and a hit batter, Tyler Lund, Nolan Tressler and Hunter Warner followed with three consecutive singles to plate four runs between them, while three-hole hitter Noah Sniadach launched a ball that rolled deep into left center field, scoring both Tressler and Warner.

By that point, Shawnee State held a 6-0 lead -- and held a significant advantage.

But the Bears weren't finished.

In the third frame, a single by Michael De Jesus and another hit batter set the stage for Lund, who shot an RBI double to right center field to bring in De Jesus, and Tressler, who launched a sacrifice fly RBI to score courtesy runner Eli Jones, pushing the Shawnee State lead to an 8-0 count.

West Virginia Tech scored three runs in the middle innings mainly behind a pair of home runs by Francisco Calderon and Broedy Boyce, but Shawnee State limited the damage by getting two runs back on an RBI single by Zach Gaspar in the fourth inning that scored Noah Sniadach -- who walked previously to begin the fourth -- and an error, as Shawnee State took a 10-3 lead after five innings of work.

The Bears then blasted the Golden Bears again for four runs in the sixth frame, as De Jesus, following a leadoff walk by Gaspar, went yard for a two-run homer to left field to push the lead to a 12-3 count. A walk by Kyle Eslick and a Lund double led to a two-RBI single by Ryan Scott to make the score 14-3 in favor of the Bears.

West Virginia Tech was able to cut the SSU lead to 14-6 on a throwing error and a wild pitch following seven frames of action, but that only delayed the inevitable as a hit batter, a single by Ryan Scott, a balk, and a walk by Nolan Tressler led to another walk by Hunter Warner to plate a run and a sacrifice fly RBI by Noah Sniadach to give Shawnee State the mercy-rule triumph.

Additional

Tyler Lund and Ryan Scott were absolutely critical to Shawnee State's success at the bottom of the hitting order, as Lund went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a stolen base, two RBI and three runs scored while Scott went a perfect 3-for-3 with two walks, a double, two RBI and three runs scored in his five official plate appearances. Michael De Jesus (2-for-5, home run, two RBI, two runs scored) and Noah Sniadach (2-for-4, triple, three RBI, run scored) added in multi-hit performances while Zach Gaspar (1-for-3, two walks, RBI, two runs scored), Nolan Tressler (1-for-4, walk, three RBI, run scored) and Hunter Warner (1-for-5, walk, two RBI, run scored) also dented the hit column for the Bears.

No. 3 Shawnee State (26-19) will play No. 2 Indiana-Southeast -- a 17-7 victor over Rio Grande on the opening day of competition -- Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe. If the Bears win that affair against the Grenadiers, SSU advances to a Saturday 4 p.m. contest -- and if the Bears win that affair, SSU will clinch no worse than a River States Conference Tournament Runner-Up finish, which will allow Shawnee State to qualify for a national postseason bid for the first time since 2012.

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