CHARLESTON, S.C. By virtue of The Citadel's sweep over the College of Charleston and Georgia Southern's 16-8 win over Wofford Sunday, The Citadel has finished the 2009 regular season in third place in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs will face sixth-seeded Appalachian State in the first round of the SoCon Baseball Tournament at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, S.C.
The third-seeded Bulldogs (34-20, 20-10 SoCon) will face a Mountaineer team that finished the regular season with a 15-13 mark in league play. The Bulldogs won two games in the three-game series in Boone, N.C. this year. Appalachian State took the first game, 10-6, on Friday, March 13 but the Bulldogs responded two days later, winning 12-3 and 19-2 in a doubleheader.
All of The Citadel's games in the SoCon Tournament will be broadcast on SportsRadio 1450AM in Charleston and on Bulldog Insider at CitadelSports.com with Darren Goldwater calling the play-by-play. Other pairings for the tournament include No. 1 Elon vs. No. 8 Furman, No. 2 Georgia Southern vs. No. 7 Davidson and No. 4 Western Carolina vs. No. 5 College of Charleston.
The tournament bracket features two, four-team double elimination brackets that will feed into a single championship game on Sunday, May 24. The first bracket features No. 2 Georgia Southern, No. 3 The Citadel, No. 6 Appalachian State and No. 7 Davidson. The other bracket has No. 1 Elon, No. 4 Western Carolina, No. 5 College of Charleston and No. 8 Furman.
Georgia Southern will face Davidson at 9 a.m. on May 20 before The Citadel faces the Mountaineers at 1 p.m. The winners of both games will meet on Thursday, May 21 at 5 p.m. while the losers will face each other on May 21 at 9 a.m.
This will be the 10th meeting between The Citadel and Appalachian State in the SoCon Tournament with the Bulldogs holding a 6-3 advantage. The teams have not met in the conference tournament since 2001 when the Bulldogs claimed a 5-3 win over the Mountaineers. The Citadel has won the past four meetings against Appalachian in tournament play. The Citadel leads the all-time series against Appalachian State, 69-24.
For complete coverage of Bulldog Baseball, please visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.