CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel outhit visiting Charleston Southern on Friday night, but stranded a 11 runners on base in dropping the series opener to the Buccaneers, 6-3, at Riley Park.

The Bulldogs fall to 3-5 on the year, while CSU improves to 5-5.

CSU starter Nik Constantakos (W, 2-1) worked five scoreless innings with five strikeouts to pick up the win, while Dylan Spence (L, 0-1) took his first loss of the season in working 5.2 innings.

CSU scored twice in the second highlighted by a Cole German triple and added three runs to the lead in the sixth, taking advantage of a Citadel error and getting an RBI single from Derek Horton, who also hit a solo home run.

The Citadel would begin to string some hits together to get on the board in the sixth.

Jonathan Sabo reached on a leadoff single and Bryce Leasure followed with a single of his own to give the Bulldogs a pair of baserunners. Aiden Massey's popup found a hole in right center for an RBI single and a dropped pop up led to another run for The Citadel. A Cameron Jensen single in the eighth would lead to the third run for The Citadel as Leasure scored.

Devin Beckley pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief for The Citadel, striking out four. Leasure led the Bulldogs with a 2-for-4 night and scored twice. Sabo went 2-for-5.

CSU's Cody Smith (S, 3) pitched the ninth for a save. German and Horton both had two hits, scored twice, and an RBI for CSU.

Game two of the series is Saturday at 3 p.m. at CSU Ballpark.

-CitadelSports-