CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team dropped the Southern Conference series finale 6-1 to Furman Sunday afternoon at Joe Riley Park as the Paladins capitalized on four Bulldog errors early and out-hit the Bulldogs 9-5.

"It's disappointing from that the fact that early on in the game we didn't play very well on the defensive side and we gave them some extra chances," said head coach Tony Skole. "You have to give them credit because they got some big hits with two outs and they got a good lead on us, but for the most part we pitched out of some jams. They were just 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, but we only had five RBI opportunities. We were very feeble offensive and you have to give Furman's pitching staff credit for holding us in check, but we have to be better offensively, especially on a day like today.

"I'm very proud of the way Jonathan (Sabo) pitched today," Skole continued. "He didn't necessarily have his best stuff today, but he pitched well enough for us to have a chance to win. We just didn't give him any help offensively. On Sundays in conference play, you have to score some runs, but we were late on a lot of fastballs and chased a lot of balls out of the strike zone. When you do that, it's not a good recipe for success. We just have to keep working at getting better offensively."

The Paladins (21-23, 6-9 SoCon) scored two unearned runs in the top of the first off a pair of errors by the Bulldogs (15-27, 4-11 SoCon) followed by single runs in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh to take a 6-0 lead into the eighth.

Taylor Cothran, who went 2-for-4 on the day, broke up the Paladins' shutout with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, scoring Bryce Leasure from second. Cothran was the lone Bulldog to log multiple hits in the game.

Jake Crawford and Sims Griffith both had two hits for Furman to lead the charge.

Jonathan Sabo (L, 1-2) pitched the first five innings for The Citadel, striking out five batters compared to giving up five hits, three walks and four runs with only one being earned.

Jordan Beatson (W, 2-2) earned his second win on the year with a six-inning performance that saw him strike out three batters and walk three while giving up just two hits.

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The Bulldogs will now hit the road for four games beginning this weekend with an altered weekend series at ETSU. The Bulldogs and Buccaneers will now start their series on Thursday, May 3 with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch before resuming the series on Friday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. After taking Saturday, May 5 off due to both schools' graduations falling on that day, the two programs will conclude the series on Sunday, May 6 at 1 p.m.

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