Sunday, February 11, 2007

Charleston, S.C. (Feb. 11, 2007) - Timely hitting by The Citadel and defensive break downs from ETSU doomed the Buccaneers in an 11-4 loss in Sunday's series finale from Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

The Citadel (2-1) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on shortstop Kyle Jordan's two-out triple over center fielder C.J. Lee's (Bristol, Va.) head, scoring Zach Brown and Trey Thomas.

The Bucs (1-2) evened the contest in the third with a series of infield singles.  Sophomore Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) led off the frame reaching on a hit-by-pitch, and advanced to second on freshman Justin Tramble's (Marietta, Ga.) single to left field.  After advancing on a wild pitch, sophomore Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) drove in Allen with an infield single.  Senior left fielder Michael Courtney (Knoxville, Tenn.) plated the tying run with a single to the shortstop.

After the Bulldogs reclaimed the lead with a run in the bottom half of the third, ETSU took the lead with two unearned runs in the fourth.  Back-to-back singles by Tramble and Mendez scored senior Justin Aughey (Davie, Fla.) and Allen for the Bucs' 4-3 advantage.

First baseman Zach Brown's second home run of the series tied the game at four in the fifth, and the Bulldogs pushed across two more runs in the sixth to take the lead for good at 6-4.

The score remained 6-4 until The Citadel plated five unearned runs in the eight inning to put the game out of reach.

Senior Justin Smith (1-0) pitched eight innings for The Citadel, striking out a career-best 11 and surrendering just two earned runs.  Senior Tony Lombardi (Windsor, Calif.) took the loss for the Bucs, falling to 0-1 on the season.

The Bucs return to Johnson City and open their home schedule with a three-game series against Niagara.  Game one is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.