DAVIDSON, N.C. Richard Jones tied a school record three home runs as The Citadel powered its way past Davidson to claim the Southern Conference series victory with a 12-5 win in front of 336 at Wilson Field Sunday afternoon.
Jones matched the record performance of three home runs that Garrick Haltiwanger notched at Coastal Carolina on March 3, 1994. Jones ended the game with a 3-for-5 performance with six RBI and three runs scored.
Six of the nine Bulldog starters recorded multiple hits in the game with one David Greene going 1-for-5 with a home run.
The Citadel (20-13, 9-6 SoCon) built an early lead and remained ahead after a career day by Matt Crim (3-3) as the senior southpaw allowed only one earned run on six hits, walked three and struck out eight, matching a career high strikeouts.
Ian Horkley (2-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits in 4.0 innings pitched. Davidson (13-16, 8-7 SoCon) had six pitchers take the mound with all but Chris Kennedy allowing a run. Relief pitcher Mac Hunter allowed three runs on two hits both home runs while facing three batters in the sixth inning.
The Citadel jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first as Nick Orvin led off with a double down the left field line. Bryan followed with the exact same hit, driving in Orvin from second. Facing one out and Altman on second, Richard Jones hit the first pitch thrown to him over the right field fence for his eighth home run of the season.
In the bottom half of the inning, Davidson short stop Zach Kayne led off with a double down the left field line. One out later, Chase FitzPatrick also doubled down the left field line to score Kayne as the Wildcats started off the inning in a similar fashion as The Citadel. However, the inning ended quite different for the Wildcats as FitzPatrick was thrown out at third attempting to steal and Crim struck out Will General to end the inning.
Davidson cut the Bulldog lead to one run in the third inning as a passed ball charged to Jones allowed one unearned run to score for Davidson. The Wildcats threatened after that with a runner on third but Crim struck out the final two batters to prevent any more runs from scoring as The Citadel held onto the 3-2 lead.
Meade led off the top of the sixth with a base hit up the middle and immediately came home as Jones hit his second home run of the game. Chris McGuiness drew a full count walk and then David Greene hit his second home run of the season, giving The Citadel 7-2 lead. William Ladd singled up the middle and then stole second to give the Bulldogs a runner in scoring position.
After Sid Fallaw struck out, Ladd got caught in a rundown but an error by third baseman Graham Chapman allowed Ladd to safely reach third. Kyle Jordan grounded out to the mound to give the Bulldogs two outs before Orvin singled up the middle to score Ladd. Orvin was thrown out at second as he attempted to steal the base to end the inning as the Bulldogs extended their lead to an 8-2 advantage.
The Citadel cushioned their lead in the top of the ninth as Orvin led off with a double to right center. After an Altman groundout to second, Meade looped a double to right field to score Orvin. Jones followed with his third home run of the game to right field. Chris McGuiness then went to the opposite way, homering to left field as the Bulldogs hit back-to-back home runs for the second time in two weeks, last doing so against Winthrop on April 1.
The Citadel continues its stretch of six games in five days on Monday, April 13 when the Bulldogs host Charleston Southern at Riley Park at 6 p.m. The Citadel will host Savannah State on Tuesday, April 14 at 4 p.m. in the first The Citadel-RiverDogs doubleheader of the season. Fans attending The Citadel's game will be allowed to remain in the ballpark for the RiverDogs' game immediately following.
For complete coverage of Bulldog Baseball, please visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.
