June 3, 2010

'DOGS RETURN TO NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Citadel was selected as the No. 3 seed in the Columbia Regional on Monday and will face No. 2 seed Virginia Tech on Friday at 2 p.m. at Carolina Stadium. It is the 13th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Bulldogs and first since 2004. In the current postseason format, The Bulldogs have been sent to Columbia all three times.

The Bulldogs and Hokies have faced off in the NCAA Tournament on one previous occasion, a 4-3 Citadel win on May 27, 1994 in Clemson. The Citadel and Bucknell have never met on the diamond. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks have met in the NCAA Tournament on five previous occasions, with South Carolina winning all five meetings.

The Citadel has an overall record of 15-25 in the NCAA Tournament with their best season coming in 1990 when they advanced to the College World Series.

THE CITADEL WINS 2010 SOCON TOURNAMENT TITLE
The Bulldogs went a perfect 4-0 en route to capturing their eighth SoCon Tournament championship. It is the first time since 1999 that The Citadel has won both the regular season title and the tournament title. In round one, Asher Wojciechowski pitched 8.0 strong innings as The Citadel downed Furman, 9-5. The Bulldogs then defeated Elon twice in a pair of 10 innings, wild games. On Thursday, the Bulldogs rallied for a 6-3 win and on Saturday, came back for a 6-5 win. In the championship game, Wojciechowski returned to the mound for 8.0 dominant innings as the Bulldogs thrashed Western Carolina, 10-3 to take the title.

WINNING STREAK REACHES 12 GAMES
The Citadel currently holds the second longest winning streak in the nation at 12 games. They have the longest winning streak of any team entering the NCAA Tournament. It is the longest winning streak since the Bulldogs reeled off 14 wins from Feb. 24 - March 17, 2001. In that span, the offense is batting .305 and is 52-for-58 in stolen bases. The pitching staff has an ERA of 2.45 and is holding the opposition to a .248 batting average. The Bulldogs have committed nine errors in that span while the opposition has tallied 27 miscues.

MAGIC NUMBER 40
The win over Elon on Thursday also gave The Citadel their 40th win of the season. It is the fourth time in school history and the second time head coach Fred Jordan has reached the mark. The 42 wins are the second most in school history and the 42-20 record is the best under Jordan's tenure.

ALTMAN RECORDS HIT NUMBER 300
In the opening round of the Southern Conference Tournament on Wednesday vs. Furman, Bryan Altman became the fourth Bulldog in school history to record 300 hits. The redshirt senior from Summerville now has over 300 hits and 200 runs as he marches up the record book in eight different offensive categories. He joins Phillip Hartig (360), Sonny Meade (355) and Chris Swauger (314) as the only other players to reach the 300 hit mark in Citadel history.

BULLDOGS SWEEP EAGLES TO TAKE SOCON CROWN
The Citadel took all three games in Statesboro last weekend to capture their 13the regular season title. The Bulldogs finished the season 24-6 in the SoCon and on an eight-game winning streak, their longest since 2004. In Thursday's game, Asher Wojciechowski threw a complete game and struck out nine to pick up the 9-4 win and a share of the title. On Friday, Matt Talley went 7.0 strong innings and the Bulldogs won on Saturday morning after it was suspended due to rain to claim the title. Michael Clevinger allowed one run in 6.0 innings as the Bulldogs took the finale, 5-2. Justin Mackert homered in all three games to lead the offense to their sweep in Statesboro since 1998 and only their second ever sweep at GSU. They finished 10-5 in the league on the road with sweeps over Elon and Georgia Southern.

WOJCIECHOWSKI, JORDAN SWEEP SOCON HONORS
Both the coaches and media selected Asher Wojciechowski at SoCon Pitcher of the Year and Fred Jordan as Coach of the Year this week.

Wojciechowski was the SoCon's only 10-game winner during the regular season, gathering a 10-2 overall mark to go along with a 3.23 ERA. The junior paced the SoCon and ranks second nationally with 128 strikeouts on the year, and he also topped the league in innings pitched (103.0) and opponents batting average (.218). The right-hander fanned at least nine batters in nine of his 14 starts while registering three complete games. The Bulldog ace is 7-2 with an ERA of 3.00 and 99 strikeouts in SoCon play. He was honored as SoCon Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 22 and March 15.

Jordan was honored as Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches for the third time. After being predicted to finish third by the coaches and fourth by the media in the preseason, Jordan's Bulldogs started 2010 by winning their first 10 conference games of the season. The Citadel led the conference from start to finish, recording the program's first regular season championship since 2002 and earning the top seed in this week's SoCon Baseball Championship.

Bryan Altman earned second team accolades at second base in both polls, while outfielder Nick Orvin landed on the second team voted by the coaches. Michael Clevinger was named to the All-Freshman squad.

STRONG ROTATION
All three Bulldog starters picked up wins at Georgia Southern and combined to pitch 22.0 of a possible 27.0 innings against the Eagles. The trio of Asher Wojciechowski, Matt Talley and Michael Clevinger has combined to go 17-3 in league play.

RUN, RUN BABY
In the Bulldogs' 12-game winning streak, the Cadets have been running all over the opposition. In the last 12 games, The Citadel is 52-for-58 in stolen bases. Led by Justin Mackert's 10 steals, all nine starters swiped at least one bag as The Citadel shot up the conference ranks and now leads the league in stolen bases with 127. The Bulldogs went 17-for-18 in stolen bases against UNCG on May 14-16. The 127 swipes rank ninth nationally and are the most for the Bulldogs since they set the school record with 198 in 2000.

FIRST NATIONAL RANKING SINCE 2001
The Citadel baseball team earned their first national ranking since 2001 this season. They were ranked No. 30 on May 31 in the NCBWA Poll and were also ranked on Monday, March 29 as they were slotted at No. 25 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30.

The last time the Bulldogs were ranked was in 2001 when they were ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30.The Citadel was ranked for three weeks following a 20-6 start that season and ranked as high as No. 21 in the nation.

TALLEY'S IMPRESSIVE STREAK
Southpaw Matt Talley put together an impressive scoreless streak of 20.1 innings that stretched from the second inning of his start vs. Furman on April 17 and lasted until the seventh inning of his start at Samford on May 1. The span included the junior's complete game shutout vs. Davidson on April 24 in between. It is the longest scoreless inning streak for any SoCon starting pitcher and the ninth longest streak in the nation this season.

WOJCIECHOWSKI NAMED GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD SEMIFINALIST
The Citadel junior right-hander Asher Wojciechowski has been named a semifinalist for USA Baseball's 2010 Golden Spikes Award. The Golden Spikes Award is given to the top amateur player in baseball.

Wojciechowski has won SoCon Pitcher of the Week honors twice this season, the only pitcher in the league to accomplish that feat. He has five career complete games and three this season. The right-hander pitched for the U.S. National Team in the summer of 2009, going 2-1 with an ERA of 2.18 in five appearances. He struck out 29 batters in 20 1/3 innings pitched.

The 2010 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award will be presented nationally July 13 on an award show via live telecast from Anaheim on GoldenSpikesAward.com, USABaseball.com and MLB.com in conjunction with All-Star FanFest.

WOJO WORKS HIS MOJO
Asher Wojciechowski picked up apair of wins in the SoCon Tournament as he struck out eight in 8.0 innings against Furman and against Western Carolina in the championship game. He leads the SoCon with 12 wins this season and is tied for most victories in a single season in school history. The right-hander has recorded six double-digit strikeout performances this season and his 144 strikeouts rank second in Division I.  He ranks third in the career-top 10 at The Citadel with 297 strikeouts.

JORDAN SETS RECORD FOR MOST WINS IN SCHOOL HISTORY
On Wednesday, March 31, head coach Fred Jordan passed legendary head coach Chal Port for the most wins in Citadel history. The 5-0 shutout win over Charleston Southern gave Jordan his 642nd career win in his 19th season as the Bulldogs' skipper. Port had a career record of 641-386-2 at The Citadel and took the Bulldogs to the College World Series in 1990.

A RECORD FIVE CONSECUTIVE SOCON SWEEPS
The Citadel's 18-game regular season SoCon winning streak came to an end on April 3 in a 12-11 loss at Wofford. The 18 straight conference victories and five straight series sweeps set a school record.  To end the season in 2009, the Bulldogs swept Furman in Greenville on May 7-10 and then followed that by taking all three against cross-town rival College of Charleston at Riley Park on May 14-16. To start the 2010 conference season, The Citadel bested Western Carolina in all three games at Riley Park on March 12-14 and then took out Elon in a three-game set from March 19-21. To cap off March, the Bulldogs swept Appalachian State at Riley Park.

QUICK STARTERS
The Bulldogs have scored in the first inning in 29 of their 62 games this year. The Cadets are outscoring their opposition 56-22 in the opening frame. They have also scored first in 43 games this season.

RPI IN THE TOP 35
The Citadel ranks No. 32 in this week's NCAA RPI Index. The Bulldogs are ranked second in the SoCon in the RPI and have faced seven nationally ranked opponents this season. Seven SoCon teams are ranked in the top 70 RPI as the league is ranked No. 9 nationally.

A recap and box score will follow each game of the tournament. Live stats will be available and all games can be heard on Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM with play-by-play announcer Darren Goldwater. Stay current on Bulldogs baseball at CitadelSports.com.