May 28, 2004

Box Score

Charleston, SC - Eighth-seeded Western Carolina continued its improbable journey through the postseason Friday, using timely hitting and clutch pitching to defeat third-seeded The Citadel 5-2 in the 11th game of the 2004 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament sponsored by the Virginia-Carolina Peanut Growers and the National Peanut Board.

With its victory, Western Carolina becomes the first No. 8 seed to advance to the championship round of the tournament since VMI in 1993. The Catamounts (28-29) will play at 7 p.m. Saturday in the first championship game against the loser's bracket survivor. If necessary, a second championship game will be played Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Citadel (35-26) drops into the loser's bracket, where it will face the winner of tonight's College of Charleston/Elon game Saturday at noon. Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Catamounts scored twice in the ninth inning off of reliever Ryan Owens to secure the victory. Chris Davis doubled home Todd Roper with one out, and Brian Sigmon beat out an infield hit with a head-first slide, allowing Davis to score from third.

Owens had pitched six innings of scoreless relief and yielded just three hits prior to giving up the two scores in the ninth. Owens came on in the third after Citadel starter Griff Beckham (3-5) was lifted after throwing 52 pitches in the first two innings.

Jeremy Ellenburg (4-2) picked up the victory for Western Carolina. He pitched six and two-third innings and gave up eight hits and both Citadel runs. Brian McCullen earned his second save of the season after replacing Ellenburg. His relief stint included an inning-ending strikeout of Bulldog slugger Chip Cannon with two runners on in the seventh, and back-to-back strikeouts to end the eighth with two runners on. He also allowed a lead-off single to Matt Covington in the ninth before striking out Chris Ard and forcing Josh Stackley to hit into a game-ending double play.

Sigmon went 2-for-4 at the plate and had two RBI to lead the Western Carolina offense. Denver Edick went 2-for-5 and knocked in one run, and Jared Greenwood went 2-for-4.

Covington went 3-for-5 and Chris Ard 2-for-4 to pace The Citadel.

Western Carolina strung together four consecutive singles to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Greenwood scored from second on Edick's grounder that bad-hopped past third baseman Chris Ard. Mike McGowan followed with a solid liner to left, scoring Brian Sigmon.

Control problems by Beckham and a fielding error by shortstop Matt Matulia combined to allow the Catamounts to extend the margin to 3-0 in the second. Brandon Zollman, who reached base safely on a one-out bunt single, scored on a bases-loaded walk to Sigmon. Zollman advanced to second when Matulia misplayed Todd Roper's grounder, then moved to third on a walk to Greenwood.

The Bulldogs closed the gap to 3-1 in the sixth on Jon Aughey's RBI single to left that scored Cannon, who preceded Aughey's at-bat with a double to right.

The Citadel closed to within 3-2 in the seventh when Ard's liner to center eluded the grasp of Zollman in centerfield, allowing Covington to score from second.

QUOTES

THE CITADEL HEAD COACH Fred Jordan: "We played hard tonight. The ball just bounced in their direction. We're going to come out fighting tomorrow."

WESTERN CAROLINA HEAD COACH TODD RALEIGH: "Jeremy Ellenburg set the tone and everybody kept stepping up, following his lead. We are not lucky to be where we are. We are just outplaying people. I was hoping to get three or four innings out of Jeremy and just piece it together from there, but he just kept getting outs and was able to hold them off."

WESTERN CAROLINA PITCHER JEREMY ELLENBURG: "I knew I had to hit my spots and make pitches. I'm not a strikeout pitcher. We have a great defense and I was just trying to keep the ball in the park."