June 5, 2004

Box Score

Columbia, SC - Jonathan Ellis threw a complete game five-hitter, his ninth complete game of the year, while Chip Cannon and Matt Covington connected for solo home runs to help the four seed The Citadel advance in the NCAA Regional with a 10-1 drubbing over No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina Saturday afternoon in front of 1,810 fans at Sarge Frye Field.

The Citadel (39-27) took an early 1-0 thanks to a solo homer off the bat of senior first baseman Chip Cannon. With the homer, Cannon, who blasted a 1-0 pitch over the centerfield wall, tied the Bulldog single-season home run record of 17, which is held by Philip Hartig who tallied 17 in both 1998 and 1999. In the third, the Bulldogs added a run to extend their lead to 2-0. After reaching on an error to lead off the inning, sophomore shortstop Matt Matulia raced home from third on a sacrifice fly by junior third baseman Chris Ard.

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 3-0 on sophomore centerfielder Matt Covington's first career home run. Covington, who connected on a 3-2 fastball, tallied his first career homer with a shot over the right field scoreboard.

With five runs in the sixth, The Citadel blew the game open 8-0. Junior third baseman Chris Ard connected for the big hit of the inning as he cleared the bases with a bases loaded double to right-center, while junior catcher Will Coker added a sac-fly with the bases full and Matulia plated Aughey on a RBI-single.

The Dogs added a run in the seventh to push their lead to 9-0 on a RBI by senior right fielder Andy Phillips. Phillips reached on an error by the Coastal Carolina second baseman that allowed Cannon to scamper home.

Coastal Carolina (40-23) managed four hits on the day and committed three errors. The Chanticleers scratched across their only run in the eighth on a RBI-groundout by Chris Raber.

In the ninth, The Citadel added an insurance run on a run batted in off the bat of Matulia. Sophomore designated hitter Mark Egleton raced home on an error by the Chanticleer shortstop that allowed Matulia to reach first safely.

Ellis (12-3) had a no-hitter going through six, but gave up back to back hits to lose the no-no. He fanned 13, a new career high, and walked only four. Ellis has now pitched four straight complete games in a row.

Coastal starter Steven Carter (12-3) took the loss after surrendering eight runs, seven earned, on nine hits in five and two-thirds innings of work.

The Citadel will face the loser of the North Carolina-South Carolina game at 7 pm, while Coastal is eliminated.