May 30, 2004

Box Score

Charleston, SC - Justin Smith pitched a complete-game six-hitter, and The Citadel bats kept pace with the game-time temperatures, as the Bulldogs blasted the Catamounts 8-1 in Sunday's championship game of the Southern Conference Baseball Tournament sponsored by the Carolina-Virginia Peanut Growers and the National Peanut Board.

On a day when the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park thermometer reached 99 degrees, The Citadel pounded out 14 hits and scored at least one run in six of the first seven innings en route to building an insurmountable 8-0 lead.

Chip Cannon had the noisiest Bulldog bat as he hit a second-inning double and a fifth-inning lead-off homer. Jon Aughey went 3-for-3 at the plate and Mark Egleton went 3-for-4 to lead The Citadel. Cannon went 2-for-4 and Chris Ard finished 2-for-5. The Citadel (38-26) scored three runs in the fourth inning to widen a 2-0 lead to 5-0. Andy Phillips had the key hit, a two-run single to rightfield that scored Aughey and Egleton. Matt Covington later singled to drive in Phillips. Covington's only hit of the day was his 13th of the tournament, which ties a conference postseason record.

Smith (2-0) threw 102 pitches in recording the fifth complete game for The Citadel staff during the tournament. He allowed just three hits through the first seven innings.

Cannon scored the game's first run in the second when he doubled to the gap in left-center to open the inning and later scored on a groundout by Egleton. Will Coker also doubled to lead off the third inning and eventually scored on a single by Ard, making the score 2-0.

After The Citadel's three-run fourth and Cannon's home run in the fifth off reliever Brian McCullen made the score 6-0, the Bulldogs added insurance runs in the sixth as Covington scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Stackley and the seventh as Egleton singled home Aughey.

Catamount started Brad Josey (5-5) lasted just three and two-thirds innings. He surrendered eight hits.

Western Carolina (28-31) scored its lone run in the eighth when Brian Barnes' RBI single brought home Denver Edick.

The tournament title was The Citadel's seventh in school history and its first since 2001. In winning the tournament, the Bulldogs received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. The Citadel pitcher Jonathan Ellis, who pitched two complete games, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The announced attendance for the game was 4,625. The overall attendance for the tournament was 35,150, which is a conference record.

Seven Bulldogs were named to the 2004 All-Tournament team. Jonathan Ellis was honored as the pitcher as well as the tournament Most Valuable Player. Chip Cannon, Jon Aughey, Chris Ard, Matt Covington, Andy Phillips and Mark Egleton all received all-tourney laurels.