March 23, 2005

Charleston, SC - The funny thing is, Jon Aughey didn't even know he had hurt himself until he trotted out to second base.

"I didn't even feel it until I got out to my position," said Aughey, who injured his left wrist swinging the bat on Feb. 13 in The Citadel's second game of the season at Charlotte.

"I couldn't get my glove on my hand, because I couldn't squeeze my hand, I couldn't even move it."

That fateful swing aggravated a stress fracture in Aughey's left wrist, and threatened to cost the Bulldogs second baseman most, if not all, of his senior season. The original prognosis was that Aughey would need surgery and be out two to eight weeks.

"I tried to stay optimistic," he said. "But two to eight weeks, that's a pretty wide spread, and I didn't know how long I'd be out."

But after surgery on Feb. 28, Aughey was back in the lineup last Sunday after missing 17 games. His return could not have come at a better time for the Bulldogs -- Aughey collected two hits as The Citadel snapped a seven-game losing streak with its first Southern Conference win of the season, a 6-3 victory over Elon.

As The Citadel (8-10) prepares to play at rival College of Charleston today, Aughey's comeback has the Bulldogs confident that they can rebound from their worst start in SoCon play in coach Fred Jordan's 14 seasons.

"We definitely missed him while he was out," said senior third baseman Chris Ard. "Not just his performance on the field, but his presence and his attitude. We need him with us."

The absence of Aughey -- who hit .324 last season with nine home runs and 43 runs batted in -- was just one factor in the Bulldogs' slow start, their worst in league play under Jordan since the 1994 team lost four of its first six SoCon games. In dropping their first five SoCon games, the Bulldogs lost by one run three times and in extra innings once -- four games that could have gone the other way with a timely hit or clutch play.

The Bulldogs, batting .259 as a team, stranded 36 runners on base in losing two of three games to Elon. In a 4-2 loss to Elon last Friday, the Bulldogs managed only two runs despite 12 hits, two walks and four Elon errors.

"The timely hits will come," Jordan said. "And controlling the big inning will come. That's been the problem so far. We've struggled offensively and we've had trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark. But we had a much better weekend last week than the weekend before, so I think we'll be OK."

Citadel pitchers have a staff earned-run average of 3.74, second-best in the SoCon. But the Bulldogs have given up 12 homers, and Elon and UNC Greensboro both had two-homer games against The Citadel.

The Bulldogs' pitchers will face their toughest task of the season against the 19th-ranked Cougars (16-4), who are batting .381 as a team, averaging 9.9 runs and are off to a 6-0 start in the SoCon. Sophomore left-hander Jamie Maxwell (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will make his first start of the season, and The Citadel will use most of its middle relievers in the midweek game, which does not count in SoCon standings.

"Charleston is on an amazing run," Jordan said of the Cougars, who won the SoCon regular-season title and are 63-20 over the last two seasons. "They picked up right where they left off last year. And they are the master of the late-inning comeback. You look at the games so far that they've come back to either tie or win the game, it's a great accomplishment."

And Jordan -- whose Bulldogs won their sixth SoCon Tournament title last season -- firmly believes that the Bulldogs also have a comeback in them this season. After all, that 1994 team that started out 5-21 and finished the regular season with a 25-31 record -- then won the SoCon Tournament and won three games in the NCAA playoffs.

"I've got as much confidence, if not more, in this club as any club we've ever had," Jordan said. "It's a long season. We've been through some tough times, but we'll be OK."