May 3, 2003

Charleston, SC - Dennis Dove gave up two runs on six hits in seven innings of work to help Georgia Southern drop The Citadel 4-2 in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon in Riley Park.

The Citadel (25-20, 14-8 SoCon) scored first with run in the bottom half of the fourth to take an early 1-0 lead over GSU. With one out in the fourth, Josh Stackley lifted a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall to give the Bulldogs the early lead. The homer for Stackley was his fifth homerun of the season.

Georgia Southern (28-17, 15-9 SoCon) answered in the top of the fifth with two runs to capture the lead 2-1. Following a A.J. Zickgraf sacrifice bunt that moved Carlos Love and Greg Dowling into scoring position, James Payne drove-in Love from third on a gorundout to second. Brendan Gilligan capped off the scoring with a RBI single that allowed Dowling to cross the plate.

The Eagles added two more runs in the sixth on three hits as Dowling plated Grant Burrus, who led off the inning with a single up the middle. GSU scored its second run of the inning as Brent Stephen scampered home on a passed ball that was swung and missed by Zickgraf for strike three. Citadel relief pitcher Matt Hamer got Payne to groundout to end the Eagle rally and the sixth inning with the Bulldogs down 4-1.

In the seventh, the Bulldogs cut the lead to two, 4-2, on Chip Cannon's eighth homerun of the season. Cannon blasted the first pitch of the inning over the right field fence for a lead off homer. The Citadel could not get any closer as Eagle closer Steve Cogswell shutdown a potential Bulldog rally in the ninth as he got the next three Citadel batters out with runs on first and second.

Dove (6-1) earned his sixth save of the season as he struck out eight, while Jonathan Ellis slipped to 5-5 on the season as he pitched five innings allowing four runs, only three of which were earned. Cogswell got his second save as he came on in relief in the ninth.

Dantzler and Stackley both contributed two hits for the Bulldogs, while Cannon posted three more walks on the season for a total of 36.

The Citadel and Georgia Southern will meet in the second game of the three-game SoCon series on Sunday, May 4, at 2:00 pm in Riley Park. The series will conclude on Monday, May 5, at 2:00 pm.