CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern Baseball closes out its longest road trip of the 2021 season as the Buccaneers head back to Clinton, S.C. and the PC Baseball Complex for a three-game series running on March 26-27. The series will start with a single game on Friday at 3 p.m., while Saturday's doubleheader is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch.

Weekend Schedule
Game One - Friday, March 26
Charleston Southern at Presbyterian
3 p.m. * Clinton, S.C. * PC Baseball Complex  * Live Stats
Projected Starters: CSU RHP RJ Petit (2-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. PC LHP Charlie McDaniel (0-0, 5.79 ERA)

Game Two - Saturday, March 27
Charleston Southern at Presbyterian
11 a.m. * Clinton, S.C. * PC Baseball Complex  * Live Stats
Projected Starters: CSU RHP Krishna Raj (1-1, 5.89 ERA) vs. PC RHP Eric Miles (1-1, 8.25 ERA)

Game Three - Sunday, March 27
Charleston Southern at Presbyterian
40 minutes after the end of the first game * Clinton, S.C. * PC Baseball Complex  * Live Stats
Projected Starters: CSU Daniel Padysak (2-1, 4.22 ERA) vs. PC RHP Duncan Howard (0-1, 1.64 ERA)

CSU Game Notes at Presbyterian - March 26-27

Wrapping the Road Trip
Charleston Southern closes out their longest road trip of the 202 season this weekend as the Buccaneers make the short trip back to where it all started – the PC Baseball Complex and Presbyterian College. Since the Bucs opened up the road trip on March 16, CSU has continued the eight-game trip with series at Gardner-Webb and a midweek contest at Winthrop. The Bucs' second-longest road trip of the 2021 season will not come until the end of the season when CSU travels to Radford (May 14-15) and Longwood (May 20-21).

Weekend Winning Ways
Charleston Southern will look to make it four consecutive winning weekends as the Buccaneers return to the PC Baseball Complex this weekend. After falling in the opener to Boston College, the Bucs have posted a 2-1 record with series wins over Longwood, UNC Asheville, and at Gardner-Webb to improve to 6-6 in weekend series on the year. The Bucs opened conference play with three consecutive series wins and are looking to win their fourth consecutive conference series to open Big South play for the first time since 2002.

Big South 40-Flex-10
The Big South Conference announced prior to the start of the season that the schedule would be a "40-flex-10" model this season featuring 40 conference games, while allowing for up to 10 nonconference contests on the year. As such, the Bucs and Blue Hose will play in midweek contests on March 16 and May 11, in addition to this weekend's series.

Recapping the Midweek Game
Charleston Southern fell in a tough midweek match on Tuesday night at The Winthrop Ballpark, 4-1. The Eagles took advantage of a pair of first-inning runs to provide starter Willie Lumpkin all the support he would need as the Bucs fell in the first matchup between the two programs this season.

Andrew Bullock continued his recent hot-streak at the plate as the senior infielder connected on his second home run in as many games to lead the Bucs' attack. Houston Parker added his first triple of the 2021 season, while Kyle Sandstrom extended his season-opening on-base streak to 24 consecutive games following a third-inning single.

Sam Massey and Hunter McIntosh combined to throw six innings of relief in the contest with the left-handed duo allowing just two earned runs while striking out five. Jordan Bridges added his team-leading seventh appearance on the mound in the loss.

Last Time against Presbyterian
Charleston Southern utilized a balanced hitting performance and strong pitching to take the Big South Conference midweek contest at Presbyterian as the Buccaneers topped the Blue Hose, 8-2.

CSU took the lead on Kyle Sandstrom's RBI single in the third inning, while Johnny Oliveira and Reid Hardwick connected on RBI extra-base hits in the fourth to provide the Bucs' pitching staff all the support they would need in CSU's first road game of the season.

Oliveira posted a 3-for-5 performance from the plate that included his third triple of the season, while Andrew Bullock added his first multi-hit game of the year to highlight CSU's efforts at the plate in the game.

Sam Massey went 3.1 innings in his first collegiate start, while Christian Baker posted two shutout innings in recording his first win of the season. John Sendziak, Jordan Bridges, Kyle Sandstrom, and Hunter McIntosh combined to throw 3.2 innings of one-hit relief to close out the Bucs' win.

All-Time Series Against the Blue Hose
Presbyterian holds the all-time 23-12 series edge over the Buccaneers dating back to their first contest back in the 1993 season. The Blue Hose hold the 9-6 advantage on games played in Clinton, S.C.

CSU's longest winning streak in the series came during a three-game stretch against the Blue Hose over the 2010 and 2011 seasons, while PC's longest winning streak, a six-game run, came over the 2008-2010 years.

In their last series in the 2019 season, the Bucs took the opener of the weekend, 10-5, highlighted by a two-double game by Brooks Bryan in the CSU win. PC would rally back to take the final two games and the series with a 6-4 win on Saturday and a 15-6 win in the series finale.

About Presbyterian
The Blue Hose are rounding back into form as Presbyterian is just a little over two weeks coming off a COVID-break that paused two conference series weekends. Since their return on March 16, Presbyterian has posted a 1-3 record with losses to Charleston Southern, Radford, and USC Upstate, while topping Radford in a contest on March 19.

Overall on the season, Presbyterian has posted a 2-8 record with a 1-3 mark in Big South Conference play. The Blue Hose opened the year losing five of their first six against tough competition with PC getting swept by No. 17 Auburn and falling in a midweek contest to Wofford, before splitting a doubleheader at Eastern Kentucky.

Presbyterian was selected eighth in the Big South's preseason coaches poll announced prior to the start of the season. The Blue Hose received 36 points in the poll.

Chris Veach leads the PC lineup with a .472 batting average on the year with 17 hits, four doubles, and a home run. Ryan Ouzts is also among the team's hitting leaders with a .412 batting average, while Sean Klein boasts the power numbers with a team-high two home runs and seven RBI.

Left-hander Charlie McDaniel is expected to make the Friday night start for the Blue Hose and has posted a 5.79 ERA over his two starts on the year. Eric Miles and Duncan Howard are also expected to take the mound as starters this weekend against the Bucs' offense. In the bullpen, Veach has doubled up as the program's closer with a 0.00 ERA and a save, while Kyle Benson has posted seven appearances on the hill.

Let's Make It Four – Going Back to 2002
Charleston Southern will look to continue on of the hottest starts in Big South play in program history this weekend as the Buccaneers continue their road trip at Presbyterian. The Bucs won each of their first three opening series to start conference play this spring with victories over Longwood, UNC Asheville, and Gardner-Webb.

A series win this weekend will tie CSU's longest conference series winning streak to open conference play dating back to the 2002 season. In that year, the Bucs took series against Liberty (2-1), Radford (2-1), Coastal Carolina (2-1), and UNC Asheville (2-1), before seeing the stretch end on April 19-20, 2002, against Winthrop.

The Bucs continue conference series weekends with a pair of tough matchups over the ensuing three weekends as they host High Point (Apr. 1-2), travel to Campbell (Apr. 9-10), and host USC Upstate (Apr. 16-17).

Bucs Big South Weekly Honors – 2021 Season
Charleston Southern has claimed three Big South Weekly honors so far in the 2021 spring baseball season with the Bucs claiming Starting Pitcher, Player, and Freshman of the Week honors over the year. R.J. Petit (SP) and Dylan Stewart (Freshman) both claimed weekly recognition following the Bucs' weekend series against Longwood, while Houston Parker (Player) claimed honors following CSU's win over UNC Asheville.

Petit, a two-time Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year, showcased why his name is expected to be called early in June as he used just 94 pitches to get through the Longwood lineup in his first collegiate complete-game effort. Petit carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and did not allow a runner to pass second base in the Bucs' 7-0 win over the Lancers.

Stewart earned Freshman of the Week honors for the first time after the Goose Creek, S.C. native paced the Bucs' offense over the weekend. Stewart opened the weekend with a pair of RBI triples on his way to a .556 batting average over the three-game series with the Lancers. He capped off the weekend with the game-winning RBI sacrifice fly in the Bucs' 6-5 win in the series finale.

Parker paced the Bucs in hits, runs, RBI, and added a team-best three extra-base hits in the Bucs' series win over UNC Asheville. Parker provided CSU's offense in the opener against UNC Asheville on Friday as the junior connected on two of CSU's eight hits in the game and added two RBI in the Bucs' 15-3 loss. On Saturday, Parker connected on the Bucs' first home run of the 2021 season with his two-run shot putting the Bucs back in the lead in the bottom of the third inning in the eventual 15-5 win. He scored two of CSU's runs in the Bucs' win in the series finale.

Like a Bull(ock) at the Plate
Over the last two weeks, the Bucs have seen the rise of Andrew Bullock into one of the premier hitters in the Big South Conference. After struggling through the first five games of the 2021 season as he made the transition from Western Carolina to Charleston Southern, Bullock started to put it together at the plate at the end of the UNC Asheville series.

Since the last matchup against Presbyterian, the Chesapeake, Va. native has hit safely in four of the last five games, including multi-hit efforts in three of the contests. This recent hitting stretch has also included five extra-base hits, including home runs in each of the Bucs' last two contests.

Bullock has hit .471 from the plate with a team-high eight hits, three doubles, two home runs, and four RBI dating back to the March 16 contest against Presbyterian. His two-run home run helped spark the Bucs to the 7-4 win over Gardner-Webb in the series finale, while his solo shot in the top of the seventh ended up being CSU's lone run in the midweek contest at the Eagles.

Bullock is one of four Bucs to be hitting over .300 over the last five games with Reid Hardwick (.333), Christian Maggio (.333), and Houston Parker (.316) also eclipsing the mark at the plate.

K-Masters
Charleston Southern's pitching staff has rounded into form as the Bucs head into the weekend series against Presbyterian. The Bucs' pitching staff has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in six games in the 2021 season, including three of the past four games with their starting pitching staff accumulating the mark twice against Gardner-Webb.

R.J. Petit posted his first collegiate double-digit strikeout effort over this past weekend as the redshirt sophomore right-hander went 8.0 innings and struck out 10 in the Bucs' win over the Runnin' Bulldogs. Two games later, Daniel Padysak put together his second double-digit strikeout effort of his collegiate career in the series finale against Gardner-Webb as the Prague, Czech Republic freshman fanned 10 players over a six-inning stretch in the Bucs' 7-4 win.

All six double-digit strikeout games for the Bucs have occurred in Big South play on the season. The Bucs struck out 10 in three consecutive games from March 6-12, and then added a second three-game stretch with CSU fanning at least 10 Runnin' Bulldogs in each of the three games over this past weekend.

Big South Conference Leaders
Charleston Southern continues to put up big numbers in Big South Conference play as the Buccaneers have placed several players among the leaders in the conference-only statistics this season.

Bucs Among Big South Leaders (Top Three)

• Runs Scored – Kyle Sandstrom (12, 2nd)
• Hits – Houston Parker/Connor Aldrich (14, T-2nd)
• RBI – Connor Aldrich (10, T-3rd)
• Doubles – Tyrell Brewer (5, T-2nd)
• Triples – Johnny Oliveira (3, 1st), Dylan Stewart (2, 2nd), Houston Parker (1, T-3rd)
• Walks – Kyle Sandstrom (9, T-2nd)
• Sacrifice Bunts – Dylan Stewart (2, T-2n)
• Stolen Bases – Kyle Sandstrom (5, 1st)
• Opposing Batting Average – R.J. Petit (.169, 3rd)
• Innings Pitched – R.J. Petit (19.2, 2nd)
• Strikeouts – Daniel Padysak (22, 2nd)
• Appearances – Jordan Bridges (6, 1st)

Coming up on the Schedule
Charleston Southern dives into Big South play as CSU is scheduled to remain in conference competition throughout the remainder of the 2021 spring season with the exception of a midweek contest against South Carolina on April 13.

Next Five Series

• April 1-2 vs. High Point
• April 9-10 at Campbell
• April 13 at South Carolina
• April 16-17 vs. USC Upstate
• April 20 vs. Winthrop

Attendance Policies at PC Baseball Complex
Presbyterian College does not allow visiting fans at their 2021 home athletic events.

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