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The Citadel Athletics

The Citadel Athletics | The Military College of South Carolina
Zach Taglieri
Zach Bland

Baseball

Bulldogs Visit CSU, Host Defending Champions

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team visits in-town rival Charleston Southern on Tuesday before hosting defending national champion Coastal Carolina on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs (9-19, 2-4 SoCon) return to non-conference play for the next three games after being swept on the road at Western Carolina over the weekend.

Charleston Southern (14-12, 3-6 Big South) also fell in a conference road series, dropping the final two games against Campbell.

Coastal Carolina (19-10, 7-2 Sun Belt), however, capped the weekend with a sweep of Georgia State on the road. The Chanticleers enter the week on a four-game winning streak.

First pitch for Tuesday at CSU Ballpark is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday's home battle against the reigning champions is also scheduled for 6 p.m. at Joe Riley Park.

Links for live statistics and video for each game can be found at CitadelSports.com.

To purchase tickets, call The Citadel Athletic Ticket Office at 843-953-DOGS (3647) or visit CitadelSports.com/tickets.

Quick Hits
  • The Bulldogs own a 52-31 record against Charleston Southern, including a 20-18 mark when visiting the Buccaneers.
  • The two teams split a home-and-home series last season, with the Bulldogs taking a 4-3, 12-inning victory on March 29. The Buccaneers won at home 18-1 on April 5. The Citadel hosts Charleston Southern on April 18.
  • The Citadel is 35-45 against reigning national champion Coastal Carolina. The Bulldogs are 19-19 all-time when hosting the Chanticleers.
  • Coastal Carolina owns a two-game winning streak over The Citadel with the Bulldogs last win coming 3-2 in 2014.
  • Taylor Cothran and Cole Buffington each smacked their first career home runs over the weekend at Western Carolina. Both home runs were of the solo variety. Buffington hit his on Friday while Cothran crushed his first home run on Sunday.
  • LHP JP Sears was selected the SoCon Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season and fourth time of his career on March 27. Sears struck out a career-high 20 batters at home against VMI in a two-hitter on March 24.
  • 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 in second in Division I in total strikeouts (72). He also ranks ninth in Division I in strikeouts per nine innings (13.22) and 19th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.00). He leads the SoCon in total strikeouts, ERA (2.02) 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, March 24th'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 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
  • Outfielder Clay Martin ranks fifth in Division I and leads the SoCon with 28 walks.
  • Jeffery Brown picked up his first career hit in the ninth inning against South Carolina on March 28, legging out an infield single.
  • Will Pillsbury earned his first career win on March 26 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 100 games, dating back to 2015. He has started the last 87 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.

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

Cole Buffington

#14 Cole Buffington

C
6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
Barrett Charpia

#5 Barrett Charpia

3B/OF
6' 1"
Senior
R/R
Taylor Cothran

#2 Taylor Cothran

OF
6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
William Kinney

#18 William Kinney

SS
5' 11"
Junior
R/R
Clay Martin

#4 Clay Martin

OF
6' 0"
Junior
L/L
Ben Peden

#24 Ben Peden

1B
6' 0"
Sophomore
L/R
JP Sears

#7 JP Sears

LHP
5' 11"
Junior
L/L
J.D. Davis

#13 J.D. Davis

2B
6' 2"
Freshman
R/R
Will Pillsbury

#3 Will Pillsbury

LHP
6' 2"
Freshman
L/L
Jonathan Sabo

#15 Jonathan Sabo

INF/RHP
5' 8"
Junior
R/R
Aaron Lesiak

#29 Aaron Lesiak

RHP
5' 10"
Graduate Student
R/R
Jeffery Brown

#8 Jeffery Brown

OF
5' 9"
Freshman
L/R

Players Mentioned

Cole Buffington

#14 Cole Buffington

6' 1"
Sophomore
R/R
C
Barrett Charpia

#5 Barrett Charpia

6' 1"
Senior
R/R
3B/OF
Taylor Cothran

#2 Taylor Cothran

6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
OF
William Kinney

#18 William Kinney

5' 11"
Junior
R/R
SS
Clay Martin

#4 Clay Martin

6' 0"
Junior
L/L
OF
Ben Peden

#24 Ben Peden

6' 0"
Sophomore
L/R
1B
JP Sears

#7 JP Sears

5' 11"
Junior
L/L
LHP
J.D. Davis

#13 J.D. Davis

6' 2"
Freshman
R/R
2B
Will Pillsbury

#3 Will Pillsbury

6' 2"
Freshman
L/L
LHP
Jonathan Sabo

#15 Jonathan Sabo

5' 8"
Junior
R/R
INF/RHP
Aaron Lesiak

#29 Aaron Lesiak

5' 10"
Graduate Student
R/R
RHP
Jeffery Brown

#8 Jeffery Brown

5' 9"
Freshman
L/R
OF

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