Bucs Holds On For 9-6 Victory Over Citadel

Junior Payton Tweddale

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Bucs jumped out 9-1 and held on to defeat cross-town rival Citadel, 9-6, Wednesday afternoon at Buccaneer Field. Charleston Southern improved to 16-27 on the season, while Citadel fell to 22-14.

Both teams used the whole staff on the mound to get through the nine-inning game, with 13 pitchers seeing action. Both starters got the decisions though, as Nick Sprowls took the loss for the Bulldogs, his first decision of the season, going 3.1 innings and giving up five runs on five hits. T.J. Green earned the victory for CSU going four full innings and giving up just one run on one hit. Payton Tweddale earned his fifth save of the season, coming in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out the only two he faced in the inning. He ended the game with 1.2 innings, five strike outs and one walk.

Tweddale created his own jam in the top of the ninth as he loaded the bases with one out again, and for the second-straight inning closed the door with a pair of strikeouts to prevent any runs.

Most of the damage at the plate was done by the bottom of the order as Ryan Smart, Mark Perry and Lionel Greene tallied six of the nine hits, and accounted for five of the seven RBI on the day. Perry was a perfect three-for-three with two runs and one RBI. Greene had two hits, three RBI and scored twice.

All three CSU runs came in the third, fourth and fifth innings as they extended and early lead to a 9-1 advantage. Perry started the scoring as he got the first hit of the game with a single down the left field line. He came around to score on a Green triple. Greene made it 2-0 as Stephen Herzog singled him in.

The Bucs gave one run back in the top of the fourth as a Trey Thomas sacrifice fly scored Sonny Meade after he extended his hitting streak to 17 games with an infield single.

CSU broke the game open with a six run fourth, scoring on five hits and taking advantage of two errors. The Bucs would tack on one more in the fifth as David Perkins scored from second on an RBI single by Perry.

The Bulldogs would score five unanswered runs, and load the bases with one out in each of the last two innings, but solid pitching performances closed the door giving the Bucs the victory in the first of two games between the two Charleston schools.

The Bucs will travel to Winthrop this weekend to face the Eagles. Friday's game will start at 6 p.m., while the Saturday and Sunday games are scheduled for 2 p.m.