CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel baseball team will welcome instate foes South Carolina and College of Charleston to Joe Riley Park this week for a pair of midweek games. It will mark the final time this season that the Bulldogs are scheduled to play back-to-back midweek games. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks will square off on Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. with the game sponsored by TD Bank. The CofC game, which is sponsored by the South Carolina Education Lottery, is slated for Wednesday, April 11 at 6 p.m.

During Wednesday's game with CofC, The Citadel Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will host a bone marrow donor drive. The drive, which will be held in partnership with Project Life and the Southern Conference, will feature an easy cheek swab test that will allow help identify potential donors.

Probable Pitching Matchups / Important Links
Tuesday, April 10 – Charleston, S.C. – 7 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Live Audio (WTMZ 94.7-FM & 1340-AM) – Tickets
TBD vs. TBD

Wednesday, April 11 – Charleston, S.C. – 6 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Video – Live Audio (WTMZ 94.7-FM & 1340-AM) – Tickets
TBD vs. TBD

Tuesday night will be the 183rd meeting between the two programs on the baseball diamond with South Carolina owning an all-time record of 132-49-1 over The Citadel. Earlier this season on Tuesday, March 20, the Bulldogs defeated the Gamecocks 4-3 in Columbia behind a ninth-inning home run by Ben Peden and a strong closing performance by Jordan Buster. Last season, the nationally-ranked Gamecocks claimed both meetings, including a 12-5 win in Columbia on Tuesday, March 7.

Since the two teams last met, South Carolina has gone 5-6 to sit at 18-14 on the year under first-year head coach Mark Kingston. The Gamecocks dropped Southeastern Conference series at Georgia and at No. 9 Kentucky, but swept a home series over Tennessee. The Gamecocks are just 1-6 on the road this season and 0-2 in neutral-site contests, but South Carolina is 5-3 in midweek tilts. The Gamecocks have played just one midweek game away from Founders Park so far this season, an 11-3 loss to North Carolina in Charlotte on Tuesday, April 3. For the year, the Gamecocks are batting .268 with 103 extra-base hits. SC had 48 doubles and 46 home runs. In the field, the Gamecocks have committed 24 errors. The SC pitching corps boasts a 4.32 ERA with 278 strikeouts on the year compared to 139 walks given up while holding opponents to a .228 batting average.

Jonah Bride leads the way at the plate for the Gamecocks as he is batting .333 with 38 hits, six doubles, two home runs and 17 runs batted in. LT Tolbert leads the team with 24 runs scored, 39 hits and 24 runs batted in. Tolbert bats .325 and is slugging .508. Jacob Olson leads the team with nine doubles and home runs while Madison Stokes boasts a .750 slugging percentage to go along with a .526 on-base percentage in 19 games played. Olson is second on the team with 19 RBIS, tied with Hunter Taylor in the category. On the base paths, TJ Hopkins leads the way with 11 stolen base on 13 attempts. Both Tolbert and Noah Campbell have six stolen bases on the year.

The Citadel and College of Charleston have met on the baseball diamond 90 times with CofC owning an all-time series record of 49-41 over the Bulldogs. The Cougars have met the last 11 games in the series with the last Citadel win coming back in 2014, 5-4 at Joe Riley Park on Saturday, March 8. The Bulldogs last won the series over the Cougars in 2013, taking two-of-three.

The Cougars head into Wednesday's game riding a four-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games. CofC is 25-9 on the year and 5-4 away from Patriots Point. The Cougars have won five or more games in a row twice this year, including winning seven games in a row from Saturday, Feb. 24 through Sunday, March 4. That stretch included sweeping a weekend series over Georgia. In midweek games, CofC is 4-5. The Cougars have won seven weekend series this season, including sweeping five. As a team, the Cougars are batting .286 with 316 hits, 197 runs scored and 100 extra-base knocks, including 59 doubles. The Cougars have swiped 48 bases on 71 attempts. In the field, the Cougars have committed 31 errors. The CofC pitching corps boasts a 2.75 ERA with 288 strikeouts compared to 76 walks and 92 earned runs given up. Opponents have hit just .222 against the Cougar hurlers.

Five Cougars are currently batting .280 or higher led by Dupree Hart's .369 clip. Hart is tied with Luke Morgan for tops on the squad with 48 hits and boasts a team-leading .454 on-base percentage. Morgan leads the team in runs scored with 28 and stolen base with 13 on 15 attempts. Hart and Logan McRae lead the way with 10 doubles each, but Danny Wondrack is in sole possession of tops on the squad with 11 homers. McRae boasts a team-high 31 RBIs with Wondrack close behind with 27. Wondrack has also drawn a team-leading 23 walks.

UP NEXT
The Citadel will close out the current nine-game homestand with a three-game series against Towson. The Bulldogs and Tigers will start the weekend off with a 3 p.m. first pitch on Friday, April 13. The series will continue on Saturday, April 14 with a 2 p.m. first pitch and will conclude on Sunday, April 15 at 1 p.m.

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