THE CITADEL POUNDS FURMAN 11-1

Box Score

Charleston, SC – Jonathan Ellis pitched his fifth complete game of the season, while Jon Aughey tallied two hits and three runs batted in to lead The Citadel past Furman 11-1 in Southern Conference baseball action Friday evening in front of a season-high Riley Park crowd of 3,369.
 
The Citadel (28-19, 16-6 SoCon) scored early and often as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning.  The Dogs played small ball in the first as they used two sacrifice bunts, an intentional walk, a sac-fly and a Paladin error to score three runs.
 
Furman (17-27, 8-14 SoCon) cut the Bulldog lead to 3-1 in the third on a safety squeeze by Craig Caudill.  After tripling down the right field line with one out, Nick Wajda raced home from third on Caudill's sac bunt.
 
The Bulldogs plated three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and three again in the seventh to blow the game open.  In the fifth, The Citadel extended their lead to 6-1 as they loaded the bases and squeezed across a run even though sophomore shortstop Matt Matulia bounced into a double play. 
 
Later in the frame sophomore center fielder Matt Covington plated sophomore designated hitter Mark Egleton as he reached on a fielding error by the Paladi's first baseman.  The Dogs third run of the inning came as junior third baseman Chris Ard singled through the infield driving home Covington.
 
In the sixth, junior catcher Will Coker ripped a RBI-single, as did Matulia giving the Bulldogs an 8-1 advantage.  With runners on first and second, Coker picked up a run batted in as Aughey raced home from second.  One batter later, Matulia singled up the middle to drive-in Egleton.
 
The Citadel capped off the scoring in the seventh with three runs putting the game out of reach 11-1.  Senior first baseman Chip Cannon just missed his 16th homer of the season as he blasted a double off the top of the right-center field wall.  Cannon's 12th double of the year scored Covington, who led off the inning with an infield bunt single.  Aughey then followed Cannon's double with a double of his own driving in both junior right fielder Josh Stackley and Cannon.
 
Ellis, who improved his record to 8-2, picked up the win as he threw his fifth complete game of the season.  He scattered five hits and struck out three, while allowing only one walk.
 
Kyle Funk dropped to 1-7 on the year as he took the loss for Furman.  Funk was charged with eight runs, four earned, in five and two-thirds innings.  He walked four and fanned three.  Paladin reliever Ryan Hudson, who pitched two-thirds of a frame, allowed three runs on three hits.
 
For the second time in a week, all nine hitters in The Citadel lineup tallied at least one hit.  The Dogs were led by Ard and Egleton both of which connected for three hits apiece, while Covington, Aughey and Coker all had two.  Aughey led the Bulldogs with three runs batted in.
 
The Bulldogs and Paladins will meet in game two of this three-game SoCon series tomorrow at 5 pm in Riley Park.