#5 The Citadel 14, #1 Elon 11
CIT-Elon Box Score
CHARLESTON, SC – Fifth-seeded The Citadel and top-seeded Elon put on a hitting display, combining for 35 hits in The Citadel’s 14-11 victory over the Phoenix in the loser’s bracket final of the 2006 Southern Baseball Championship before 2,723 fans at Riley Park.
In a marathon game of three hours and 44 minutes, The Citadel (34-26), who eliminated Elon (44-16) from the tournament for the second straight season, advanced to the championship game where it will face off against cross-town rival and second-seeded College of Charleston at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening.
With the game even at 5-5 in the top of the fifth inning, The Citadel’s Chance Smith bunt singled to get on base and then advanced to second on a throwing error by Elon catcher Grant Rembert. Two batters later Tripp Cappelmann singled to third base to send Smith home and give the Bulldogs the advantage at 6-5. The lead would not last long, as the Phoenix procured a run in the bottom of the fifth, plating a run on a sacrifice fly from centerfielder Ryan Addison to tie the contest at 6-6.
Squared at 6-6 in the top of the seventh inning, The Citadel scored the go-ahead run on a Chris Swauger RBI double to go up 7-6. The Bulldogs tallie two more runs on a Mark Egleton single to center field that scored Swauger and Matt Covington and gave The Citadel a 9-6 lead.
The Phoenix picked up one run on a Chris Price solo shot to right field in the seventh inning. The dinger was the 11th of the campaign for Price.
The Citadel took a four-run lead in the top of the ninth after Matt Covington drove in two Bulldogs.
Matt Matulia then put the game out of reach for the Phoenix by belting an eventual game-winning three-run jack to right center. The home run was Matulia’s third of the season and earned The Citadel a commanding 14-7 lead.
Elon plated two in the bottom of the eighth inning before Chris Price, who finished the day with a SoCon single-game record-tying five hits, nailed his second home run of the day to put the Phoenix within three at 14-11. The Bulldogs held off the Elon
The Citadel wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, plating three runs off Elon starting pitcher Kory Radford in its first team at-bat in the top of the first inning.
After Covington walked to start the contest, Sonny Meade from the third slot doubled to advance Covington to third base and place two runners in scoring position.
Cleanup hitter Matulia took advantage of the situation, singling in Covington to put the Bulldogs in front at 1-0. Meade then found his way towards the plate one batter later with Mark Egleton singling up the middle to plate him.
Matulia now in scoring position at second base after the single by Egleton, The Citadel’s Matt Arnold reached base on a botched fielding play by Elon second baseman Donny Jobe. The play allowed Matulia to cross the dish, placing the Bulldogs on top at 3-0.
Kory Radford was able to get out of the inning after Smith hit into a double play, but he would not last much longer, leaving the game after 1.1 innings pitched. In only his second start of the season for the Phoenix, Radford left the contest with the Bulldogs having surrendered four hits and giving up three earned runs.
In the top of the second inning The Citadel added another run as Meade secured his first RBI of the afternoon on a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Cappelmann and gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.
The Phoenix were able to get within two in the bottom of the second inning.
Rembert kicked off things in the inning by singling through the left side. Chris Price followed that up by knocking the 46th two-bagger of his career to left center to move Rembert to third and place runners at second and third base.
The Bulldogs did their best to get out of the inning unscathed by picking up two outs after Rembert and Price led off the inning by getting on base. Elon was finally able to tally its first runs though, as Ryan Radford hit a double to right centerfield to plate Rembert and Price to make the score 4-2.
Elon’s Robert Rodebaugh set the margin even lower in the bottom of the third, smacking a home run to right center to pull the Phoenix within one at 4-3.
The Citadel gained the run back in the top of the fourth inning when with the bases jammed the Bulldogs’ Matt Arnold acquired his first RBI of the day by singling to right field to score Meade for a 5-3 Bulldogs lead.
Elon commandeered that run back in the bottom of the stanza with a Chris Vasami double that scored Donny Jobe.
The Phoenix were able to square the contest in a wild play on the very next batter with Rodebaugh at the dish.
After Rodebaugh laced a ball to deep right field that The Citadel’s Smith made a tremendous catch, Elon’s Adam Weaver was able to tag up from third to tie the contest at 5-5.
The Citadel head coach Freddie Jordan
“It was a great college baseball game. You’ve got two college baseball teams battle as much as they could battle. Thankfully, Matulia had a great hit that extended the lead a little too far.”
The Citadel leftfielder Chris Swauger
On playing the College of Charleston
“It will be a great time. We are both good teams and we are both playing really well right now. It’s going to be a war.
Elon assistant coach Greg Starbuck
On today’s game
“When you get this deep in the tournament, I knew it could turn into a slugfest and that’s exactly what happened. But I was proud of the way our team battled.”
On NCAA selection
“We’ve won 44 games and I don’t think there is any question we should be in the tournament. When the big come to our place to play us, that’s when we see which conference’s deserve more than one team.”
Elon firstbaseman Chris Vasami
On the game today
“I don’t even know how to describe it. They battled. It seemed like they hit every ball; and every ball we hit seemed to be right to one of their players.”
“I’ll tell you this: it was a fun atmosphere to play in today.”
On being down 14-7
”We’ve been coming from behind all year so I felt like we could battle back.”
Photo Credit: The Citadel
