CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel got strong pitching out of the bullpen from
Cameron Reeves, and timely hitting from the offense to secure a 5-4 victory over ETSU in the series opener Friday afternoon at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
Game Information
Score: The Citadel 5, ETSU 4
Records: The Citadel (10-19, 2-10), ETSU (16-15, 6-7)
Location: Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park (Charleston, South Carolina)
Series: The Citadel leads 1-0
How it Happened
- ETSU got on the board in the first after a one-out walk came around to score on a single off the bat of David Beam.
- The Bulldogs answered back in a big way in the second inning as they took advantage of a pair of errors to push across four runs.
- A fielding error started the inning before a bunt was thrown away at second to put runners on the corners with no outs.
- With one out, Travis Lott delivered a RBI single up the middle to tie the game.
- Brooks O'Brien continued to show his ability to handle the bat as he put down a bunt that turned into a RBI single.
- Jeffery Brown drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly, and O'Brien came around with the fourth run on a wild pitch.
- The Bucs got two runs back in the third inning on a two-run single from Jake Lyle.
- The next five innings belonged to the Bulldog bullpen as Cameron Reeves shut down the ETSU offense over the next five innings.
- The Bulldog offense got the bats going again in the eighth inning when Ryan McCarthy drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second. With two outs, Crosby Jones delivered a double into the left field corner to score McCarthy with what turned out to be the game-winning run.
- ETSU was able to push across one run in the top of the ninth to pull within one run.
- After the Bucs loaded the bases, Jake Pilarski came out of the bullpen and only needed one pitch to get the final out of the game.
Inside the Box Score
- The victory marked the second time this season the Bulldogs won the opening game of a conference series by a 5-4 score.
- Cameron Reeves (3-6) picked up his first conference win of the season out of the bullpen. The right hander kept ETSU off the board for the first five innings before running into a jam in the ninth.
- He finished the game allowing just one run on four hits and four strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
- Jake Pilarski (1) earned his first save as a Bulldog as he got a flyout to end the game on the first pitch he threw.
- Chace Cooper was the first Bulldog out of the bullpen and got the team out of third inning by getting the final two outs.
- Hunter Loyd (4-2) took the loss for the Bucs as he gave up five runs, three earned, on six hits and 10 strikeouts over 7.2 innings.
- Brooks O'Brien continued to produce out of the nine hole as he went 2-for-2 with a RBI and a run scored.
- Noah Mitchell was the only other Bulldog with two hits.
On Deck
After an issue with the lights at Riley Park, the two teams will now play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon.