CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth but fell one short of a six-run comeback against Samford on Friday night, dropping the first game of the series 7-6.
 
The Bulldogs (16-34, 6-13 SoCon) plated two runs on two hits in the ninth inning as Barrett Charpia led things off with a leadoff single up the middle and then advanced to third on a double to left field by William Kinney. Charpia scored a batter later after Mike Deese hit a ground out to the shortstop and Kinney came around to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly to left field by Clay Martin for the second out. That would be all the runs The Citadel could muster in the final inning though, falling 7-6.
 
Samford (28-22, 9-10 SoCon) scored first in the contest, tacking on a quick run in the top of the first after stringing together back-to-back hits. The Bulldogs plated another run in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0 despite being held by starter JP Sears to just three hits in those innings.
 
The Citadel answered with one run of its own in the bottom of the fourth after Bret Hines laced a one-out double down the left field line. Hines came around to score just four pitches later on a single through the right side by Steven Hansen to cut Samford's lead to one.
 
Samford scored four runs with two outs just a half inning later and took a 6-1 lead in the contest. The Bulldogs added one more in the seventh to make it 7-1.
 
The Citadel rallied to close the gap to 7-4 with a three-run seventh inning thanks to four hits and a two-out, two-run triple by Shy Phillips. The three-bagger was the first of the sophomore's career.
 
Steven Hansen, Kinney and Charpia all finished the game with multiple hits for the Bulldogs who totaled 10 hits in the game for the 15th double-digit-hit game this season. Kinney scored twice in the contest and Phillips plated two runs.
 
Sears tossed 4.2 innings and struck out six. Kyle Smith closed out the game with 2.0 innings of solid work, fanning two and allowing just one hit.
 
The series continues inside Joe Riley Park Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest. Live stats, video and audio will be available at CitadelSports.com.
 
Scoring Summary
Top 1st – Samford 1, The Citadel 0: Heath Quinn scored from 2nd on a single to center field by Austin Edens with two outs
Top 4th – Samford 2, The Citadel 0: Austin Edens scored from 3rd on a ground out to shortstop by Jared Watson for the second out
Bottom 4th – Samford 2, The Citadel 1: Bret Hines scored from 2nd on a single to right field by Steven Hansen with one out
Top 5th – Samford 3, The Citadel 1: T.J. Dixon scored from 3rd on a single to center field by Hunter Swilling with two outs
Top 5th – Samford 4, The Citadel 1: Hunter Swilling scored from 3rd on a double to left field by Heath Quinn with two outs
Top 5th – Samford 6, The Citadel 1: Heath Quinn scored from 2nd on a home run over the left field wall by Austin Edens with two outs
Top 7th – Samford 7, The Citadel 1: Heath Quinn homered over the left field wall with no outs
Bottom 7th – Samford 7, The Citadel 2: Steven Hansen scored from 3rd on a single up the middle by William Kinney with no outs
Bottom 7th – Samford 7, The Citadel 4: William Kinney scored from 3rd and Clay Martin scored from 1st on a triple to right field by Shy Phillips with two outs
Bottom 9th – Samford 7, The Citadel 5: Barrett Charpia scored from 3rd on a ground out to shortstop for the first out
Bottom 9th – Samford 7, The Citadel 6: William Kinney scored from 3rd on a sacrifice fly to left field by Clay Martin for the second out
 
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