The Citadel secured a 10-6 victory over Marshall at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Saturday, marking their second consecutive win. The Bulldogs improved to a 3-2 record for the season, while Marshall dropped to 2-3.
The game began with The Citadel taking an early lead in the first inning after Zach Hunt’s RBI groundout and a wild pitch that allowed TJ Anderson to score. Marshall quickly responded in the second inning with RBI singles from Cleary Simpson and Evan Bottone, tying the game at 2-2.
In the bottom of the second, Jayden Williams drove in Matthew Lively for another run and later scored himself following a throwing error by Marshall’s catcher, putting The Citadel ahead 4-2. However, Marshall took control in the fourth inning with Bottone’s three-run home run, moving ahead 6-4.
Garrett Fulmer helped close the gap with an RBI triple in the fifth inning. The Bulldogs tied the game in the sixth when Hunt was hit by a pitch with bases loaded.
Aryan Patel gave The Citadel a lead in the seventh with an RBI single. He then stole second base and scored on an errant throw by Marshall’s pitcher. A fielding error on a pop-up to third base allowed Williams to score again, giving The Citadel three runs in that inning.
Hunt added insurance with his first home run of the season in the eighth inning, finishing with three RBIs—a personal best this year.
Phillips Daniels had three hits including a double; Fulmer contributed two hits and a triple; Williams scored four times and stole three bases.
On pitching duty for The Citadel, Ben Brash threw two innings of relief allowing just one hit and striking out one batter. Starter Bryce Coulter went three innings, surrendering five earned runs on seven hits while striking out three. Jacob Deacon provided three innings of relief work with one earned run and two strikeouts.
Marshall’s Drew Harlow pitched five innings, yielding five earned runs on eight hits and striking out five batters. Blaine Albright took the loss after giving up four runs—three earned—in just under two innings.
Head coach Russell Triplett commented: “I thought we played much cleaner, more disciplined baseball today. We won the game yesterday, but we made a lot of mental mistakes. Today, I felt it was cleaner. We played good defense,” said head coach Russell Triplett. “We probably walked too many guys, but I thought we were much better at the plate, with an improved approach early on, and then we got some big two-strike, two-out hits late in the game. I also liked the way we ran the bases, and our bullpen was good. We got into some trouble, but they were able to get the next guy out after free bases, so we limited the free passes. Overall, a good day for the dogs.”
The Bulldogs are scheduled to play Army next at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park on Sunday at 1 p.m.
