The Citadel (Weekend Baseball Series in Charleston)

 

Who: The Citadel
When: Thursday, March 28 thru Saturday, March 30, 2024
Time: Thursday 6:00 pm; Friday 5 pm; Saturday 1:00 pm
Where: Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park, Charleston, SC
TV/video:  Thur. - ESPN+;  Friday -  ESPN+ ; Saturday -  ESPN+
Live Stats: Citadel Live Stats
Nickname: Bulldogs
Colors: Blue and White

Head Coach: Tony Skole, a Citadel Athletics Hall of Famer,  enters his sixth season as the Bulldogs’ head coach. In returning to his alma mater, Skole has been tasked with returning the Bulldog program back to one of the top teams in the Southern Conference and restoring the Bulldog’s Championship Tradition. Solidifying his program’s foundation has been his immediate priority, and this began with reestablishing the brand of Citadel Baseball. He enters the 2024 season with an overall head coaching record of 668-779-1 and a 102-184 record in his sixth season at The Citadel

The Series: The Cats own an 98-70 overall record vs. the Bulldogs, in a series that started in 1971. The Cats are 37-41 in games played in Charleston, but is 8-2 in the last ten games played. The Cats were 2-1 in the series played in Cullowhee last season.

Current record:  15-8 overall,  14-4 home, 1-4 away, 0-0 neutral, 0-3 SoCon.  
 
The Citadel was selected 8th in preseason poll voting, and SP Sam Swygert, Jr; RP Will Holmes, So.; and SS Sawyer Reeves, Jr. received preseason all conference honors. In conference play, Javier Crespo ranks seventh in the conference with a .407 batting average and eighth with 33 hits. Thomas Rollauer and Anthony Hausner are tied for third in the conference with eight doubles. Wells Sykes and Thomas Rollauer are tied for second with three triples. Ben Hutchins is fifth in the conference with an ERA of 3.46 and sixth with opposing batting averages of .237.

The Bulldogs are coming off a three game sweep by Wofford in Spartanburg, SC, however they beat CSU in a Tuesday midweek game, 4-0.  Joe Riley Park is the site of 18 of The Citadel’s 23 games this season, with a record of 14-4. The Bulldogs haven’t left South Carolina this season, leaving the Charleston area for just four games – a 7-1 midweek loss at then-No. 21 South Carolina at Columbia and dropping all three games of their SoCon-opening Upstate series at Wofford over the weekend. The Citadel snapped a second three-game losing streak of the season on Tuesday, cruising to a 4-0 victory over Lowcountry rival Charleston Southern. The Bulldogs scored everything they needed in the first four frames, limiting the Buccaneers to four base hits en route to their third win in four scheduled games with their Charleston neighbor. 

The Catamounts enter the week leading the league in home runs with 35, trailing only Samford (41) and The Citadel (19). WCU ranks 17th nationally in home runs per game. The Catamounts are also third in the conference in doubles with 49. On the defensive end, WCU has turned a SoCon-best 23 double plays. That’s four more than the second-place Citadel (19). The Catamounts also lead the SoCon in double plays with 18 and have a league-leading 65 assists. Individual statistics Nate Stocum leads the league with 12 home runs. He also has the second-highest slugging percentage (.790) and ranks fifth in the league in RBI (30). Transfer middle infielder, Trent Turner, leads the conference in hits (37) including 8 doubles, which is tied for third-most.

Projected starting pitchers:

Thursday, March 28 | 6 p.m. 
WCU: RHP Gavin Mortenson (9 app., 3 GS – 0-1, 4.08 ERA, 17.2 IP, 20 K, 12 BB)
The Citadel: RHP Sam Swygert (6 app., 6 GP – 3-0, 5.28 ERA, 29.0 IP, 20 K, 12 BB)

Friday, March 29 | 5 p.m. 
WCU: RHP Davis Budd (6 app., 1 GS – 0-0, 5.06 ERA, 10.2 IP, 11 K, 6 BB)
The Citadel: RHP Landon Slemp (6 app., 6 GS – 2-2, 6.19 ERA, 32.0 IP, 20 K, 14 BB)

Saturday, March 30 | 1 p.m. 
WCU: TBA
The Citadel: RHP Ben Hutchins (9 app., 1 GS – 3-2, 3.46 ERA, 26.0 IP, 19 K, 5 BB)