April 8, 2004

Charleston, SC - Jordan Haar, who broke the Charleston Southern career home run record of 30 last week against The Citadel with a grand slam, continued to feast on Bulldogs pitching by blasting two home runs, one in CSU's three-run third and another in the fifth, Wednesday night to lead the Bucs, 12-7.

"This is a great series because the two schools are so close together," Jordan Haar said. "I am just glad I could help my team out. I wasn't looking for the homers, but with runners on third both times, I was just looking to hit one in the air and I was fortunate that they got out."

Haar also finished with four hits in five at-bats, scored four runs and drove-in six. Teammate Brad Woods reached base three times and scored three times on Haar hits.

"Jordan had a great night for the second week in a row," Charleston Southern head coach Gary Murphy said. "I thought overall as a team we hit the ball hard and I am very pleased with the way our offense is producing." It looked as if The Citadel, which fell to 19-10, was going to avenge last week's 12-4 loss when it took a 5-3 lead in the fourth.

But thanks to Haar's second home run of the night, a three-run job, an RBI-single by Blankenship and a run-scoring wild pitch, CSU jumped ahead 8-5 in the fifth.

The Bulldogs tried to get back in the game with two runs in the sixth that narrowed the CSU lead to 8-7, but the Buccaneers scored one in the seventh and three in the ninth.

Ian Holmen earned the win for CSU, who has a 16-17 season mark, evening his record at 3-3. Holmen came on in relief in the third and pitched 3ú innings.

He allowed two runs, both unearned, on five hits, while striking out five and walking four. R.J. Swindle pitched the final 1ú innings to earn the save as he struck out Chip Cannon, who had four hits and two RBIs for the Dogs, with the bases loaded in the ninth for his first save of the year.

Charleston Southern's four pitchers allowed 15 hits and eight walks but stranded 15 runners, which helped limit a Citadel offense that had 23 base runners on the night.

"I thought our pitching staff did a great job of not allowing The Citadel to have a big inning," added Murphy.

The Citadel's Michael McLaurin (0-1) took the loss in his first career appearance. He pitched ú in the fifth and surrendered four runs on two hits and two base on balls. The Bucs faced eight Bulldogs pitchers with sophomore Matt Covington pitching the eighth and ninth.

The Bulldogs will make the short trip over the Cooper River Bridge for a three-game series at Patriots' Point against the of Charleston this weekend, while CSU will travel to Birmingham, Ala., to face Birmingham Southern in a three-game Big South series.