Baseball Drops Finale at The Citadel
4/26/2009 9:08:00 PM | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Georgia Southern dropped the Southern Conference finale at The Citadel on Sunday afternoon (April 26), losing 8-4. The 28th-ranked Eagles lost just their second SoCon series of the season, now 30-11 overall and 13-6 in the SoCon.
The Citadel (25-17, 12-9) got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Sonny Meade singled then on a one-out hit-and-run took third on Chris McGuiness' single. Matt Simonelli lifted a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth Matt Murray (Spring City, PA/Owen Roberts) got the first out but then walked the bases loaded. Kyle Kamppi (Savannah/Benedictine) came on in relief. Simonelli lifted a sacrifice fly for a run, then Sid Fallaw lined a RBI single. Kyle Jordan hit an infield single that Kevin Bowles (Statesboro/Statesboro) made a sliding stop in shallow right field. His throw home to Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) bounced and went to the backstop allowing two runs to score for a 5-0 lead.
GS loaded the bases with no one out in the seventh. Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) singled then Randy J. Williams (Valdosta/Andrew College) walked followed by a Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell) single to load the bases. Jonathan King (Athens, TN/Young Harris) lifted a sacrifice fly for the first run.
Williams scored on a wild pitch by Matt Talley then Benedict lined a 2-2 pitch with two outs into centerfield, scoring two runs and cutting the deficit to one. However, that would be the closest GS would get.
The Citadel plated three runs in the eighth for insurance. Sophomore Drew Mahaffey allowed just one walk in the final two innings for his sixth save.
Murray (3-3) was charged for four runs on four hits in 5.1 innings. The freshman right-hander walked four and struck out two. Benedict and Pierce finished with two hits apiece but the Bulldogs out-hit GS 11-7.
Three Citadel players had two hits apiece as Simonelli and Jordan drove in two runs each.
The Eagles return to action on Wednesday (April 29), playing a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader at Kennesaw State.
