May 7, 2005

Charleston, SC - In his pre-game talk, Citadel baseball coach Fred Jordan told his team that this strangest of seasons is not that different after all.

"Coach said we are in the same situation we always are," shortstop Matt Matulia said. "Usually, we're playing to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament. Now, we're playing to win seven out of nine to get in the tournament."

The Bulldogs took a solid step in their drive to qualify for the Southern Conference Tournament, blasting four home runs -- two by Matulia -- in an 8-5 victory over East Tennessee State before 902 fans at Riley Park on Friday night.

Chris Ard belted a three-run homer in the fourth to complement two solo shots by Matulia and one by Jon Aughey as the Bulldogs snapped a three-game skid and improved to 17-29 overall.

At 8-14 in the SoCon, the ninth-place Bulldogs are now within two games of ETSU (26-15, 11-13) and Davidson (23-20, 11-13) with eight league games left. Five or six victories in those eight games might be enough to get The Citadel in to the tournament, set for May 25-28 at Riley Park.

"We played with pretty good energy," Jordan said. "And it's going to take that to be here at the end of May. But that's our goal."

Citadel starter Ryan Owens (5-4) gave up a two-run homer to ETSU's Caleb Moore and a three-run shot to Chuck Hargis, but managed to get through 6-2/3 innings. Sophomore closer Link Saunders escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the seventh and cruised through two more innings for his fourth save. "Link has been the one constant in our pitching staff all year long," Jordan said. "He's held the rope for us pretty well at the back end of our bullpen, and with a lead we were not going to give it to anybody but him."

Matulia's first homer and Ard's three-run shot to left in the fourth inning gave The Citadel a 6-2 lead, and the Buccaneers never drew even, though they came close.

Hargis slammed a 3-2 fastball from Owens over the wall in left for a three-run homer in the fifth, cutting The Citadel's lead to 6-5. But Owens, a junior left-hander from Stall High School, got Stephen Douglas to pop up with two runners on to get out of the inning.

Matulia's second homer, his sixth of the season, made it 7-5. Aughey's solo blast to center, his third homer of the season, gave the Dogs an 8-5 cushion in the seventh.

Saunders entered the game with two on and two out in the seventh, and walked Blake Church to load the bases. He got Douglas to ground out to shortstop to preserve the lead.

Moore's two-run homer in the first, his 13th, gave ETSU an early 2-0 lead. But the Bulldogs tied the score in the second on Matt Covington's two-run single.

Sophomore Justin Smith (2-1, 5.70 ERA) will start for The Citadel in today's 6 p.m. game against ETSU ace Jeremy Hall (9-2, 4.91 ERA).

"We've just got to take it one inning at a time, one pitch at a time," Matulia said. "We just have to try to win the next inning and go game by game."