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The Citadel Trips Furman 7-4
May 14, 2005
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Matt Matulia and Josh Stackley belted back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning to break open a close game and lead The Citadel to a 7-4 win over Furman in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday night at Furman Stadium.
After the Bulldogs took a 4-3 lead in the seventh, The Citadel's Jon Aughey delivered a one-out single and Matulia cracked a two-run home run, his seventh of the season, over the left field fence off Paladin reliever Nick Holstegge. Stackley then followed with a solo home run for a 7-3 lead.
Furman tallied a run in the bottom of the frame off Bulldog reliever Link Saunders to make it 7-4, but the Paladins could get no closer as Sam McLain's two-out line drive was speared by Bulldog first baseman Chris Ard with runners on first and third. Furman stranded 12 runners in the contest.
The victory moved The Citadel (20-31, 11-15 SoCon) a half game ahead of Furman (23-25, 10-15 SoCon) into eighth place in the Southern Conference standings and put the Bulldogs in position for the series sweep in Sunday's 1:00 p.m. game.
Eight teams qualify for the SoCon Tournament, which gets underway May 25 at Charleston's Joseph P. Riley Park.
Evan Burgess (2-1) earned the victory in relief of Bulldog starter Justin Smith, pitching two innings of two-hit scoreless ball and striking out three.
Holstegge (1-1) took the loss for Furman after yielding four runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings of work.
Matt Covington, Chris Ard, and Stackley paced The Citadel's 11-hit attack with two hits each. Ard's two base knocks came in his first two plate appearances and ran his consecutive hits streak to eight before being retired on fly out in the fourth inning.
Furman also had 11 hits, including three by Matthew Betsill and two each by Ben Terry and Andrew Greene, but the Paladins committed four errors in the contest.
The Citadel took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With one out Ard singled down the left field line, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball before coming on Chris Swauger's sacrifice fly.
Furman tied it in its first at bat after Terry singled to lead off, advanced to second on a walk, and to third on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Sam McLain.
The Bulldogs regained the lead with a run in the second on Trent Weathers' two-out RBI single, but the Paladins knotted it at 2-2 in the bottom of the frame on Greene's run scoring single to right field.
The Citadel went up 3-2 in the fifth after Weathers walked with one out, stole second, and came around to score on Matt Covington's base hit to left field.
Furman came back with a run in the fifth to tie it at 3-3. Case Cassedy walked to lead off, and McLain followed with a single to left. Betstill then doubled down the right field line to score Cassedy, but Furman's bid for a big inning failed after A.J. Davidiuk popped out on bunt attempt and, following a walk to Tony Maccani, Spence Gibbs grounded into an inning ending double play.
The Citadel took the lead for good in the seventh after Zach Brown doubled to lead off and came home on a Weathers sacrifice fly for a 4-3 advantage.
