College of Charleston
The Citadel
Citadel Wins Series Opener In 11 Innings, 5-4
3/9/2014 12:13:00 AM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Cougars and Bulldogs met in a non-conference weekend series for the first time after CofC's departure to the CAA, but the fireworks with College of Charleston baseball's oldest rival continued to shine.
The Citadel won a walk-off thriller in the bottom of the 11th inning on a two-out single from Bo Thompson that scored Hughston Armstrong for a 5-4 victory. The hit capped a back-and-forth battle that saw the Bulldogs lead by three early, saw CofC score four unanswered runs and then last through several potential game-ending situations in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings.
Both College of Charleston (10-3) and The Citadel (7-7) were coming off mid-week losses to Toledo at home, but it was the Bulldogs who came away with the hard-fought victory to take the early edge in the three-game series. The Cougars finished with 10 hits, while The Citadel tallied 14, with all of The Citadel's five RBIs coming with two outs.
Both starting pitchers allowed the game's first six runs as Nathan Helvey went four innings and Logan Cribb lasted 5.1. One of Cribb's runs went unearned as the Bulldogs committed four errors, including two in CofC's three-run sixth inning.
Chase Henry and Michael Hanzlik then dueled Citadel's Skylar Hunter through the last four innings. Henry allowed three hits and a walk, but did not surrender any runs, while Hanzlik (0-1) allowed Thompson's game-winning single in the 11th. Hunter (1-1) earned his first win of the season with a 4.0 inning relief appearance, allowing three hits but striking out four.
Tyler Griffin led the Bulldogs with four hits and three RBIs, while Thompson had two hits and two RBIs. Armstrong and Drew DeKerlegand each tallied two hits and scored three of Citadel's five runs.
Brandon Glazer led CofC with three hits and two RBIs, while Carl Wise struck for two hits and a run. Alex Pastorius knocked three hits in six chances, and Blake Butler extended his reached-base streak with a single in the eighth.
The Bulldogs grabbed an early lead with a Griffin RBI single in the first, followed by a two-out rally in the third inning, led by Thompson's RBI double and another RBI single from Griffin.
College of Charleston was held to just three hits until the sixth inning when the Cougar bats woke up. Wise led things off with a single and Brandon Murray followed with a double to the wall. Glazer drove in Wise with a single up the middle and then Nick Pappas reached on an error that scored Murray. Pinch-hitter Austin Bello sent another hard-hit ball at Citadel second baseman Brett Hines who misplayed it again, allowing another run to score and tie the game at 3-3.
CofC took a brief lead in the seventh inning with a manufactured run from Gunnar Heidt who walked, advanced on a groundout, stole third and came home on a Glazer RBI single. However, the Bulldogs responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh off Griffin's third RBI.
The Citadel threatened to win the game in the ninth and 10th innings by putting runners on first and second with one out, but each time the Cougars turned inning-ending double plays to get out of the jam.
College of Charleston got its chance in the 11th inning with a single from Pastorius and sacrifice bunt from Heidt. But Wise grounded out to short and Glazer struck out looking with two outs and the runner on second.
Armstrong excited the Bulldog faithful in the 11th, singling and then stealing second base. After Hanzlik struck out DeKerlegand, Thompson blooped a single into center that scored Armstrong and ended the game.
Play moves to Patriots Point on Sunday as the two teams do battle on CofC's home field. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.
POSTGAME QUOTES
“It was a great baseball game. We fell behind early, but found a way to come back and took a lead in the seventh inning before they tied it back up. Give them a lot of credit. They came up with a big hit at the end there with two outs in the 11th inning. But we competed really well. We pitched well out of the bullpen and we were really good defensively. The difference was that they had some big two-out RBIs and we didn't. That was really the difference in the ballgame.”
POSTGAME NOTES
-The Citadel now leads the all-time series 41-38 dating back to 1991. Despite a number of non-conference midweek games during CofC's years in the TAAC and SoCon, this series marks the first weekend non-conference between the two rivals in the Division I era.
-Saturday was Charleston's first extra-inning game of the 2014 season. CofC is 1-1 in walk-off situations, having beaten Marist in a walk-off hit last weekend.
-Reliever Chase Henry tossed 2.2 innings of shutout relief on Saturday. His perfect 0.00 ERA now extends through 16.0 innings and seven appearances. He sports a WHIP of .438.
-Ben Boykin went 0-for-4 on Saturday, ending his hitting streak at 10 games and his reached base streak at 15 games dating back to 2013. Blake Butler has reached base in all 13 games this year, while Brandon Murray has quietly put together an eight-game hitting streak after an 0-for-11 start to the year.
