GREENVILLE, S.C. - Three Citadel pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Furman that gave the Bulldogs their third straight Southern Conference series win to conclude the regular season.
The Citadel (25-28, 10-14 SoCon), winners of seven of its last nine league games, heads into the conference tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face East Tennessee State in a play-in game on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Riley Park. Furman (24-31, 11-13) will be the tournament's sixth seed.
The Bulldogs wrapped up their seventh series win in the last eight against their Upstate rival but not before surviving a couple of late threats. The Paladins loaded the bases with two outs in the eight before closer
Skylar Hunter retired Griffin Davis on a fly ball to medium center.
Chris Ohmstede led off the bottom of the ninth by driving a Hunter pitch to deep left, but
Austin Mapes ran it down on the warning track. After a two-out single by Brandon Elmy, Jake Jones rolled into a fielder's choice short as Hunter secured his 12th save of the season and 40th of his career, the most in SoCon history.
The Citadel scored the only run of the game in the sixth.
William Kinney singled and Mapes doubled to start the inning, and one out later
Connor Walsh hit a grounder to first. Ryan Morse was prepared to throw home in attempt to cut down Kinney trying to score but misplayed the ball and had to settle for the out at first.
Stephen Windham then hit a shallow fly to left that was corralled by a diving Davis to strand Mapes and keep it a one-run game.
The Mapes double extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest by a Bulldog this season. Kinney finished with two hits, adding a double in the third.
But it was the Bulldog pitching that was the big story on Saturday.
Thomas Byelick went the first five innings and allowed only two hits, earning his second straight SoCon win when The Citadel produced its sixth-inning run. A two-out double by Davis in the fourth was the only Paladin to reach second off Byelick.
Kevin Connell came in to relieve Byelick in the sixth was sharp in his 2 2/3 innings, giving up only one hit, before Hunter finished it. Connell has not allowed an earned run in 5 2/3 innings in his last three appearances.
Will Gaddis allowed four hits in six innings and was the tough-luck loser for Furman, dropping to 3-6 on the year.
