ANDERSON, S.C. -- Jon Merrell pitched eight shutout innings and JJ Newman and Shelton Cisson had four hits apiece to lead Erskine to a 12-0 victory over Anderson in a CVAC game Friday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium. Erskine, 12-1 overall and 1-0 in the CVAC, scored single runs in the first four innings then broke the game open with a four-run fifth. The Flying Fleet finished the game with 16 hits, five for extra bases. Newman came up a homer shy of the cycle. Merrell allowed just five hits, struck out six, and walked five in eight innings. He wiggled out of bases-loaded jams in the first and the eighth and benefited from three double plays. Michael Maus pitched a perfect ninth to finish the game for the Fleet. Anderson, 5-12 and 2-2, suffered its fourth shutout in its last eight games. The Trojans, who have lost five of their last six, managed just five singles in the game. In their last six games, the Trojans are averaging just 4.8 hits per outing. Newman tripled and scored in the first and doubled and scored in the second. Cisson brought Newman home with a sacrifice fly in the first and singled and scored in the third. Matt Schneider got the Erskine fourth started with a home run to right field. A walk, singles by Juan Adriatico and Matt Wurzer, a throwing error, two wild pitches, and a sacrifice fly by Kris Andersen brought home three more runs to increase the Erskine lead to 8-0. Erskine scored four more runs in the ninth on a double by Adriatico, a hit batter, two infield errors, run-scoring singles by Andersen and Newman, and a sacrifice fly by Robbie Knapp. Anderson starter and loser Chris Pitts allowed 10 hits and eight runs, six earned, in 4 2/3 innings. Tony Graham had two of Anderson's five hits. The two teams will wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game will start at noon. 2006 Anderson University Baseball Statistics