CHARLESTON, S.C. - Drew Ellis and
Steven Hansen homered in a four-run sixth, rallying The Citadel from a 5-2 deficit and an eventual 10-5 victory over VMI to keep the Bulldogs alive in the Southern Conference Tournament.
The Citadel (28-29) faces Mercer (33-21) on Saturday and will need to top Bears twice in order to advance to Sunday's championship game. The teams will meet at 12:30 and again later in the day if necessary.
In Saturday's first game, Samford takes on Wofford at 9 a.m. needing one win to move on to the title contest.
The Keydets (21-30) put The Citadel in a 5-2 hole after scoring four times in the fifth before the Bulldogs used the long ball to go in front an inning later against VMI starter Austin Heenan (1-7).
Stephen Windham reached on an error to begin the frame, and Ellis followed with a long home run to right to make it a one-run game.
Ellis' homer was his team-leading 12th of the season. Hansen then blasted a drive just over the wall in left center to tie it at five, and the Bulldogs kept the pressure on when
Ryan Kilgallen reached on a perfect bunt single down the third base line.
Bret Hines sacrificed Kilgallen to second, and the Bulldog catcher raced home with what proved to be the game-winning run on a single by
William Kinney.
The rally made a winner of
Austin Mason (3-2) for the second time in the tournament. Mason allowed a single and two walks but struck out Ray Lopez with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth.
Kevin Connell stranded the tying run at third in the top of the seventh, and
Skylar Hunter gave up one hit while striking out four over the final two innings for his 13th save of year and 41st of his career, the most in SoCon history.
The Citadel tacked on a run in the seventh on an Ellis single and Hansen RBI double and put the finishing touches on its victory with three in the eighth including run-scoring hits by
Connor Walsh and Ellis and a sacrifice fly by Windham.
Windham and Walsh had RBI singles in the first and third, respectively, to stake the Bulldogs to an early 2-0 lead.
Jacob Watcher made his first career start for The Citadel and was impressive early, allowing only one base runner on an error through the first three innings to go along with five strikeouts before VMI reached him for a run in the fourth.
The first six Keydets then got hits in the fifth to produce four runs in taking their 5-2 lead, but
Zach Lavery was able to keep it at a five-run inning by escaping a two-on, nobody-out jam, a clutch pitching performance that proved critical in sparking The Citadel comeback.
Ellis and Walsh both had three of The Citadel's 14 hits, with every starter working their way into the hit column.
