July 1, 2004
Charleston, SC -
The NCAA released its final 2004 baseball statistics early Thursday morning and The Citadel's Chip Cannon found himself atop the walks per game chart. Five other Bulldogs were listed among the nation's leaders, while the Bulldogs finished in the top-100 in five team categories.
Cannon, who broke the Southern Conference and Citadel single-season walks record with 71 base on balls, recorded a 1.06 walks per game mark over 67 games. Cannon's 0.681 slugging percentage was good enough for 39th, while his 0.25 home runs per game ranked him 64th. He was one of only two players in the nation to finish with a walks per game ratio over one.
Fellow Bulldog Jonathan Ellis was listed among the nation's pitching leaders in two categories, earned run average and victories. Ellis' 12 victories on the mound placed in a tie for tenth with some of the country's top pitchers, including Miami's Cesar Carrillo, Rice's Wade Townsend and Long Beach State's Cesar Ramos. Ellis was ranked 19th in ERA with a 2.18 season clip. He allowed only 33 earned runs in 136.1 innings of work.
Will Coker, Andy Phillips, Matt Matulia and Chris Ard were all listed in the top-100 in sacrifice hits per game. Coker led the Bulldog quartet with 0.22 per game, which placed him 26th in the nation. Phillips placed 43rd with 0.2 per game, while Matulia and Ard were 65th and 81st with 0.19 and 0.18 per game, respectively.
As a team, the Bulldogs were one of the best defensive teams in the nation. The Citadel defense not only led the Southern Conference in fielding percentage with a 0.974 season mark, but they also wrapped up the season tied for eighth in the nation. The Bulldogs, who made 69 errors in 67 games, found themselves in a six-way tie for eighth with Oral Roberts, Stanford, Texas, UC Santa Barbara and Birmingham-Southern
The other four team categories in which the Dogs finished in the top-100 included ERA (49th - 4.18), winning percentage (84th - 0.582), double plays per game (85th - 0.9) and stolen bases per game (95 - 1.28).
