May 3, 2003

Charleston, SC - Many Citadel baseball players will finish up their final exams this morning. In the afternoon, they will take the field at Riley Park to begin what promises to be an even sterner test in the month of May.

Trailing Southern Conference leader Western Carolina by two games in the loss column, the Bulldogs begin a three-game series with defending SoCon Tournament champion Georgia Southern at 3 p.m. today.

Then, in the next three weeks, The Citadel faces a series at SoCon contender UNC Greensboro; a game at South Carolina; a home series against rival VMI; and the SoCon Tournament May 21-24 at Riley Park.

"The way I look at, we have 11 more opportunities to get better and to prepare for those last four days in May," coach Fred Jordan said Friday.

It's a key weekend in the SoCon pennant chase, as four of the top five teams in the league square off -- fourth-place Georgia Southern (14-9) at second-place The Citadel (14-7), and UNC Greensboro (tied for second) at fifth-place College of Charleston (12-9).

All those teams trail 16-5 Western Carolina, which finishes the regular season with series against 10th-place Wofford, last-place App State and College of Charleston.

"The way Western Carolina is playing, I don't see them stumbling down the stretch," said Jordan, whose team won the regular-season crown last year. "We're just trying to play our way into the best seed that we can get."

The Bulldogs recovered from a string of six straight losses by winning five of six before a 4-2 loss at Coastal Carolina Wednesday.

The emergence of junior first baseman Chip Cannon as a Sunday starter on the mound has helped solidify the weekend pitching rotation; Cannon pitched eight innings and went 3-for-5 at the plate in last Sunday's 5-1 win at Furman.

Cannon is 1-2 with a 2.10 earned-run average on the mound and is batting .321 with a team-best seven homers and 40 RBIs.

Georgia Southern, a popular choice to win the SoCon this season, was swept by Western Carolina and lost two of three at UNC Greensboro earlier in the season.

The Eagles are fifth in the SoCon in batting with a .303 average, led by Carlos Love's .354 average. Georgia Southern is also fifth in pitching with a team ERA of 4.30. Scott Tolbert is 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA, while Dennis Dove is 5-1 with a 4.04 ERA.

"Georgia Southern is just coming out of exams, and we are still in exams," Jordan said. "Being mentally tough will be a challenge for both teams.

"It's a very big weekend for both teams."