CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will play two midweek games this week, including one at Joe Riley Park to open a nine-game homestand that will cover 12 days. The Bulldogs will first travel to Statesboro, Georgia to take on former Southern Conference foe Georgia Southern on Tuesday, April 3 before returning home to host Winthrop on Wednesday, April 4.

Probable Pitching Matchups
Tuesday, April 3 – Statesboro, Ga. – 6 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video
LHP Will Pillsbury (1-1, 5.51 ERA, 16.1 IP) vs. RHP David Johnson (1-1, 6.41 ERA, 26.2 IP)

Wednesday, April 4 – Charleston, S.C. – 6 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Tickets
TBD vs. TBD

Tuesday night will mark the second meeting this season between The Citadel and Georgia Southern. The Eagles claimed the first meeting of 2018 9-3 in Charleston back on Tuesday, Feb. 27. Georgia Southern has won the last five meetings between the two and the Eagles hold a 51-40 record over the Bulldogs heading into Tuesday night.

Georgia Southern enters Tuesday's midweek tilt with a 13-14 overall record and an 11-6 mark at home. Most recently, the Eagles dropped a three-game series at home to 20th-ranked Coastal Carolina, but Georgia Southern won the series finale 5-4. Before the series with Coastal Carolina, the Eagles had won five of their last six games at home. Georgia Southern is currently batting .227 as a team with 127 runs scored and 54 home runs. The Eagles have swiped 21 bases on 31 attempts and have made 44 errors in the field.

The Eagles of Georgia Southern have been led to this point by Mason McWhorter's .278 batting average. McWhorter leads the team in doubles (9), home runs (4), total bases (50) and runs batted in (22). Christian Avant is not far behind as he is currently batting at a .262 clip with Mitchell Golden batting .252 on the year. Golden has matched McWhorter with 27 hits on the season and is tied with Steven Curry for tops on the team in runs scored with 19. Curry has drawn a team-high 16 walks and has been hit by a pitch 10 times to lead the team with a .416 on-base percentage. Golden leads the way on the base paths with seven steals. On the mound, the Eagles will turn to David Johnson, who has made six starts on the year. Johnson brings a 6.41 ERA and 1-1 record into the game. He has pitched 26.2 innings and has 17 strikeouts compared to nine walks. Back on Tuesday, Feb. 27, Avant and Chandler Corley led the way at the plate for the Eagles. Avant went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI while Corley went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four runs batted in.

Wednesday's game at Joe Riley Park will mark the second half of a home-and-home series with Winthrop. The Eagles won the first meeting 8-1 in Rock Hill back on Wednesday, March 7, but the two split the series last season with each winning on their home field. The Citadel holds a 27-25 record over the Eagles all-time.

Winthrop is currently 13-16 on the season, including a 1-12 mark on the road. The Eagles notched their first road win of the season on Saturday, March 31 in the series finale at High Point. As a team, Winthrop is currently batting .260 with 71 extra-base knocks, 158 runs scored and 136 runs batted in. The Eagles have swiped 23 bases on 30 attempts so far this season.

Heading into Wednesday's game at Joe Riley Park, three Winthrop Eagles are batting over .300 for the season, highlighted by Grant English's .325 batting average. English has 27 hits and 15 runs scored on the year, but it's Matthew Mulkey and Mitch Spires who lead the way. Spires has a team-high 34 hits, including nine doubles, and 19 runs scored on the year and Mulkey leads Winthrop with five home runs and 22 RBIs for the year. Mulkey is slugging .595 with 12 extra-base hits and a .389 on-base percentage. Spires also has a team-high six stolen bases heading into this week. Just behind the trio of English, Mulkey and Spires are Alex Raines and Cale Gibson, each batting .294. When these two teams last played, Hunter Lipscomb and Gibson each notched two hits. Lipscomb led the way with two runs scored and three batted in while Gibson added two RBIs and a run scored.

SPENCE NAMED SOCON PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Citadel right-handed pitcher Dylan Spence has been named the Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week, it was announced by the conference office Monday afternoon. Spence, a junior from Belton, South Carolina, is the second Citadel pitcher to earn the award in as many weeks as Jordan Buster was named the SoCon Pitcher of the Week last Monday. A week after recording a complete game in a 5-1 win over Western Carolina on Friday, March 23, Spence picked up his second win of the season in a 5-0 victory over VMI on Friday, March 30. Dating back to the series opener against the Catamounts, Spence has now pitched nine consecutive scoreless innings. Against the Keydets on Friday, March 30, the junior righty pitched seven complete frames and held the 31 batters he faced to a .231 batting average, scattering six hits and three walks. Spence set a season high for strikeouts with seven, which matched his career high set in 2016 against Clemson (3/16/16) and combined forces with Buster to record the Bulldogs' second shutout on the year. It was also the second shutout for Spence and Buster as they started the season off by registering a 3-0 win over George Mason on Friday, Feb. 16.

UP NEXT
The Citadel will next host Samford for a three-game, Southern Conference series beginning Friday, April 6 at 6 p.m. The series will continue on Saturday, April 7 at 2 p.m. and the series finale will be contested on Sunday, April 8 at 1 p.m.

For more information on The Citadel baseball team, please follow @CitadelBaseball and @CitadelSports on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.