MACON, Ga. - Competing in its first of two games over Spring Break, the VMI lacrosse team dropped a 13-2 decision to host Mercer in Southern Conference action Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia.

The Bears (3-4, 1-1) jumped out to an early lead in the opening 15 minutes by scoring five times for the 5-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Scott Baird, Matt Quinn and Lucas Wittenberg penetrated the Keydet defense for unassisted goals before Chris Baxa and Quinn added the other scores in the last five minutes of the opening period.

Quinn would add two more goals early in the second quarter to finish the game with four goals on the afternoon. Mercer would tally one more goal late in the period to go into the halftime break with a commanding 8-0 advantage.

VMI's Wesley Sanders put the Keydets (1-8, 0-2) on the board with five minutes remaining in the game on an unassisted goal for his 17th goal of the season and eighth consecutive game with a goal. He entered the match in fourth place in the SoCon standings for goals scored on the season. Teammate Eric Shaver added another score moments later for VMI's final tally of the game.

Sanders finished the game with nine shot attempts followed by Shaver's four. Dan Bull, Chris Spada and Brad Nardella each contributed three. Kyle Walsh showed hustle as the long stick middie with three groundballs for the day.

The Keydets have a week off of competition before returning to the field for a home game with league opponent Furman Saturday at noon on Drill Field 2.