- Coming Up This Week
The Citadel, after winning its final eight Southern Conference games, finished third in the league and will face sixth-seeded Appalachian State in the first round of the SoCon Tournament at Greenville's Fluor Field at the West End. The Bulldogs and the Mountaineers will play in the second game of the tournament and are paired in the four-team grouping with No. 2 Georgia Southern and No. 7 Davidson.
- Scouting The Tournament Field
The Bulldogs enter Southern Conference Tournament play against seven other talented teams that have contributed to the league's RPI ranking of seventh in the nation. Top-seeded Elon enters the tourney having won 17 straight league games and is ranked 22nd in the latest Baseball America poll. No. 2 Georgia Southern and No. 5 College of Charleston are two of the most offensively powered teams in the nation while No. 4 Western Carolina is the only team in the field to have beaten The Citadel during the regular season series, winning the rubber game of the three-game series in Cullowhee by a 10-9 margin.
- Fred Jordan Becomes First to Win 300 Southern Conference Games
The Citadel head coach Fred Jordan made history on Thursday, May 7 when he became the first head coach in the 88-year history of the Southern Conference to win 300 league games.
No other coach in the 88-year history of the Southern Conference has ever achieved the 300 league win plateau. Jordan became the winningest coach in league games in SoCon history on May 11, 2006 with The Citadel's 13-4 win over Davidson. Famed Bulldog head coach Chal Port only recorded 255 wins during his 27-year tenure at The Citadel.
- Four Bulldogs Named to All-SoCon Team; Wes Wrenn Named Pitcher of the Year
The Citadel led all teams with four players named All-Southern Conference First Team while Wes Wrenn was named Pitcher of the Year in a vote of the league's coaches as announced by the Southern Conference office Monday afternoon.
Wrenn, a senior right-hander from High Point, N.C., compiled a 9-2 record to go along with a 3.84 ERA and 78 strikeouts. He logged a league-high 93.2 innings on the mound including three complete games. In his last eight starts, Wrenn has pitched at least 7.1 innings in each outing while holding opponents to four earned runs or fewer in each of those appearances.
Wrenn was joined by three teammates on the first team, giving The Citadel the most first-team selections with four. Catcher Richard Jones was honored along with first baseman Chris McGuiness and outfielder Sonny Meade. The Bulldogs Drew Mahaffey was voted as the second-team relief pitcher.
Wrenn becomes the first Bulldog to be named SoCon Pitcher of the Year since 2004, when Jonathan Ellis brought home the honor. The four players named First Team All-Conference ties a program-best, having done it only four times before. The last time The Citadel put four players on the All-SoCon First Team was in 2001.
Earning All-Freshman Team honors were David Greene and Nick Orvin from The Citadel. Greene hit.374 while playing in 49 games at third base while Orvin has started every game of the season, hitting .346.
- Chris McGuiness Leads Nation in Walks, Third in WAlks per Game, Fourth in On-Base Percentage
Chris McGuiness has seen a lot of the basepaths this season as the junior from James Island, S.C. is tied for the national lead with 61 walks heading into the SoCon Tournament. On a per game average, McGuiness is averaging 1.14 walks per game, ranking him second in the nation.
McGuiness' hot bat is contributing to his number of walks as he is hitting .377 on the season and has a team-best .670 slugging percentage. The high number of walks, along with his team-best hitting percentage, gives him a .529 on-base percentage. That mark also ranks him fourth in the nation.
The Citadel school record for walks in a season is 71 set by Chip Cannon in 2004. McGuiness enter's this week's games ranked fourth in school history for walks in a season.
- Sonny Meade, Bryan Altman, Bulldogs Nationally Ranked in Hits
Entering the SoCon Tournament, both Sonny Meade and Bryan Altman have contributed to a hot-hitting Bulldog team this season as both players are nationally in hits.
As of the last NCAA Statistical report on May 10, Meade is fifth in the nation with 90 hits. Altman is 18th in the nation with 82 hits on the season. The two have combined to give The Citadel a national ranking of 11th in hits as a team this season.
- Strikeout Bryan Altman? Not So Fast My Friend!
The Citadel's Bryan Altman is proving a tough batter to strike out this season. Altman enters this weekend's series ranked 22nd in the nation in the Toughest to Strike Out category, as released by the NCAA Office on May 10.
- Matt Talley Second in Nation in Pickoffs
Baserunners everywhere beware! The Citadel's Matt Talley is once again atop the Southern Conference and near the top of the national leaderboards in pickoffs. Through the end of the regular season, Talley has recorded 10 pickoffs (six more than the nearest SoCon competitor). The sophmore southpaw's 10 picks ranks him second in the nation.
- Sonny Meade Challenging Southern Conference Career Hit Record
Senior Sonny Meade has been a consistent offensive threat throughout his career and he is quietly making his mark on Southern Conference history. Entering this weekend's series, Meade has 348 career hits only 12 shy of Phillip Hartig's SoCon record of 360. Phillip Hartig set that record at The Citadel from 1998-2001. Meade currently stands in third place all-time in SoCon history in career hits, behind Chris Campbell (College of Charleston, 2004-07) mark of 355 career hits.
- Sonny Meade in Top-10 in Career Hits, Total Bases at The Citadel
Senior Sonny Meade is quickly climbing the charts of The Citadel's all-time career hits list this season. After starting the year listed 10th, Meade has passed Chris Swauger for second in the record books with 348 career hits entering this week's games.
Meade has also broken into the career charts in total bases. Entering this week's game at South Carolina, Meade is ranked third with 476 career total bases.
- Streaking Into The Tournament
Entering this week's SoCon Tournament, two Bulldogs are bringing hot bats to Greenville. Senior Sonny Meade enters the tournament riding a 26-game hitting streak, the third-longest streak in school history. Meanwhile, freshman Nick Orvin has a 16-game hitting streak entering tournament play.
- Wes Wrenn Throws Back-to-back Complete Games
Wes Wrenn made a strong case to be named Pitcher of the Year in his final two starts of the regular season, throwing back-to-back complete games as the Bulldogs swept Furman and the College of Charleston. That marked the first time a Citadel pitcher has thrown back-to-back complete games since Jonathan Ellis achieved that feat in 2004. Ellis pitched a complete game against Western Carolina in the SoCon Tournament on May 29, 2004 and then again vs. Coastal Carolina in the NCAA Columbia (S.C.) Regional on June 5, 2004.
- Matt Crim Throws Complete Game Shutout vs. Charleston
Matt Crim became the first Bulldog pitcher in two years to throw a complete game shutout, doing so as his performance sealed a series sweep over the College of Charleston. The shutout, the first for a Bulldog team over the Cougars since 1926, sealed the series sweep and gave Crim a notable performance in his last appearance on the mound at Riley Park. The Cougars failed to score in a game for the first time since 2006 - a span of 174 games.
- Drew Mahaffey Would Be Nationally Ranked In Strikeouts per Nine Innings
The Citadel's Drew Mahaffey has posted some impressive numbers from the mound this season. Mahaffey has recorded 59 strikeouts (with only 10 walks) in only 40.2 innings pitched. That gives the sophomore southpaw an average of 12.63 strikeouts per nine innings, a mark that would rank him seventh in the nation if not for the 50.0 minimum innings pitched criteria in the national statistics. San Diego State's Stephen Strausberg's average of 16.91 K/9.0 IP. Currently, the top ranked SoCon pitcher in that category is Elon's Jimmy Reyes who ranks 34th with 10.35 strikeouts per nine innings.
