JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – A day after clinching the series over ETSU, The Citadel baseball team dropped Sunday's Southern Conference series finale to the Buccaneers by a score of 11-5 at Thomas Stadium.

The Buccaneers (24-19, 9-9 SoCon) out-hit the Bulldogs (17-28, 6-12 SoCon) 13-8 after jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the first inning. The Bucs then went on to score single runs in the third, fourth and sixth frames before closing out the game with a four-spot in the eighth.

Ben Peden added to his weekend RBI total in the top of the first as he ripped a double down the left-field line to score Bryce Leasure, beginning the game with a run off two hits and an ETSU error before the Bucs' outburst in the bottom of the frame.

In the top of the fourth, J.D. Davis scored Clay Martin with a sacrifice fly to left field to cut into the deficit and the Bulldogs cut further into the lead two innings later with a two-spot off a two-RBI triple by Leasure that scored Davis and Martin. Martin ended the day 2-for-3 at the plate with the two runs scored while Leasure went 2-for-5 with the pair of RBIs.

Ryan McCarthy put a cap on the Bulldogs' scoring drive in the top of the eighth when he ripped his second home run of the series to lead off the frame.

Jonathan Sabo (L, 1-3) pitched the first three innings for the Bulldogs to become the pitcher of record before giving way to Jordan Merritt, Ian Foggo, Kyle Smith and Cole Buffington.

After Aaron Maher started the game and pitched just one inning that saw him give up one earned run and four walks compared to two strikeouts, Russell Koesters (W, 3-2) came on for 4.2 innings of work to earn the win with Daniel Sweeney (S, 1) finishing the game to earn the save.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will next take travel the short distance to Patriots Point to play in-town foe College of Charleston on Tuesday, May 8 at 6 p.m.

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