VIDEO | LIVE STATS

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team takes its first three-game road trip of the season beginning Friday, visiting Southern Conference rival Western Carolina in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

The Bulldogs (9-16, 2-1 SoCon) fell Tuesday night 15-1 to No. 4 South Carolina. In their SoCon opening series, the Bulldogs defeated VMI in two of three games.

Western Carolina (9-14, 1-2 SoCon) visit UNC-Asheville on Wednesday at 5 p.m. before hosting The Citadel on Friday. The Catamounts opened their SoCon season on the road at UNCG last week where they dropped two games.

First pitch for Friday is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Childress Field at Hennon Stadium, followed by a 2 p.m. start time on Saturday and 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

Live statistics will be available for all three games of the series while a live broadcast can be viewed for Friday and Sunday's games. Links can be found CitadelSports.com.

Quick Hits

• The Citadel is 64-82 all-time against Western Carolina after defeating the Catamounts in two of three games in 2016.
• Western Carolina owns a 45-22 advantage over the Bulldogs at home in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
• The Bulldogs enter the week coming off their first SoCon series where they defeated rival VMI in two out of three games.
• LHP JP Sears was selected the SoCon Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season and fourth time of his career on Monday. Sears struck out a career-high 20 batters at home against VMI in a two-hitter on Friday.
• Sears' performance ties him for the program record for strikeouts in a game and is tied for second all-time in the SoCon. 20 strikeouts is also the highest in a single game this season in Division I.
• Sears enters the week leading Division I in total strikeouts (63). He also ranks ninth in Division I in strikeouts per nine innings (13.39) and is tied for 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.00). He leads the SoCon in total strikeouts, ERA (1.70) and batters struck out looking (25).
• Along with his 19 strikeout performance last year at VMI, Sears now has two of the top-six strikeout totals in SoCon history.
• Sears was also selected as one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week, Friday's Pitcher of the Week by D1Baseball.com, College Sports Madness SoCon Player of the Week and was featured in USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Gold Standard Performance of the Week poll.
• The Citadel ranks 5th in Division I and first in the SoCon with 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Outfielder Clay Martin enters the weekend series with a 15-game on-base streak. He ranks fourth in Division I and leads the SoCon with 27 walks and the team with a .438 on-base percentage.
• Joe Sabatini hit his fifth home run of the season, driving in his 14th RBI in the Bulldogs 15-1 loss to No. 4 South Carolina on Tuesday.
• Jeffery Brown picked up his first career hit in the ninth inning against South Carolina on Tuesday, legging out an infield single.
• Will Pillsbury earned his first career win on Sunday vs VMI in a 4-2 victory. The freshman struck out five batters in 5.1 innings of work, allowing just two runs.
• The Citadel offense exploded for a record 34 runs on Tuesday, Feb. 14 against Winthrop. The Bulldogs also set records for hits (34), RBIs (31), margin of victory (26) and at-bats (56).
• The 34 runs are the highest single-game total in NCAA Division I this season, topping 32 runs scored by both McNeese and South Alabama.
• The offense had multiple players with career days against Winthrop as five Bulldogs recorded at least four hits, five finished with four or more RBIs and four more scored at least four runs.
• Barrett Charpia drove in nine RBI on a 5-for-8 day at the plate against Winthrop. The senior smacked two home runs, driving in the second most runs by a Bulldog in program history. Charpia's nine RBI are tied for the most in a single game in Division I this season.
• Charpia was selected the D1baseball.com Player of the Day and was one of four players nominated for the Golden Spikes Gold Standard Performance of the Week.
• Jonathan Sabo also finished 5-for-9 with two home runs against Winthrop. The junior transfer scored six runs and drove in five more.
• Sabo and Taylor Cothran each tied the program record with six runs scored apiece. The last time the feat was accomplished by a Bulldog was in 1998 by Jerry Simmons.
• William Kinney tied The Citadel record with four doubles in a six-hit ball game for the junior. The shortstop became the first Bulldog to hit four doubles in a game since Mark Mitchum did so in 1979. Kinney also posted career highs of six RBI and five runs scored and increased his average from .231 to .305 with the career game.
• Cothran and J.D. Davis each posted their first career four-hit games against Winthrop. Ben Peden finished 3-for-6 with four runs scored and four RBI.
• JP Sears walked his first batter of the season against C of C on March 3 after beginning 2017 with 21 strikeouts in 13.2 innings before allowing his first free pass.
• Sears was selected the SoCon Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 27 after striking out 12 batters in a 4-0 victory over Delaware State.
• William Kinney extended his streak of consecutive starts to 97 games, dating back to 2015. He has started the last 84 straight games at shortstop for The Citadel.
• Kinney drew a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 10th inning on Saturday, March 18 against Dartmouth in an 8-7 victory. Kinney led the offense with a 3-for-5 day, two RBI, a run scored and a triple.
• The Bulldogs walked a season-high 13 times on Tuesday, March 1 in a 9-8 victory over Presbyterian College. It is the most walks in a single game for The Citadel since 2007.
• Barrett Charpia walked four times in the game, the most for a single Bulldog player since 2007 as well.
• Charpia hit a walk-off single on Feb. 25 against Delaware State in The Citadel's 6-5 victory.
• Relief pitcher Aaron Lesiak earned the win in relief against his former team on Feb. 27 vs Presbyterian. He is now 3-0 on the season after earning a victory against Dartmouth on Saturday.

For more information on The Citadel baseball follow @CitadelBaseball or visit CitadelSports.com.