The Presbyterian College baseball team rallied late in the second game, only to see it slip away as The Citadel scored two runs in the eighth inning to take a 5-3 win in the second game of a doubleheader this afternoon at the Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Park in Charleston, S.C. PC lost the first game, 8-2.
Presbyterian College fell to 18-26 overall, while The Citadel improved to 19-24.
In the second and third innings of game one, the Blue Hose had opportunities to put runners in scoring position after Brandon Paul singled to second base in the second and Nate Horton hit a blooper to left field in the third. The next batter in both cases hit into double plays, as The Citadel converted five for the game.
The Bulldogs put its first run on the board in the bottom of the third after Matt Simonelli fouled out to right field with one out, sacrificing in Josh Pless from third, to give The Citadel the early 1-0 lead.
After Andrew Williams (Augusta, Ga.) opened the fourth inning with a pop up to short, Mack Hite (Abbeville, S.C.) reached on an error the next at bat and advanced to second on a Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) single.
Tony Micklon (Sumter, S.C.), who went two-for-four with one RBI, singled through the left side to drive in Nate Horton (Spartanburg, S.C.) for the tying run. Paul hit his second single in a row to put PC runners on first and second but Gabe Grammer (Irmo, S.C.) grounded out to second to end the inning.
The tie was short-lived as Joe Jackson, who was on third after a triple to open the bottom of the fourth, stole home for a run. Pless followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Calvin Orth to give The Citadel the 3-1 lead.
Horton led off the fifth with a double to left field. He advanced to third when Alex Loftin (Denver, N.C.) collected his only hit of the day with a bunt down the third base line. He scored when John Wagner (Olney, Md.) hit to the second baseman, who overthrew first for The Citadel's second error of the game. PC hit into another double-play the next at bat to end the inning trailing by just one, 3-2.
The Citadel extended its lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run home run by Brad Felder.
After the Bulldogs loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, Justin Mackert popped up to the shortstop in center field, allowing Simonelli to score. It was followed by a two-RBI double by Orth to give The Citadel the final 8-2 lead.
Buck Mosteller (Woodruff, S.C.) threw 5.1 innings, gave up five runs off seven hits with three strikeouts for the loss (3-5). Austin Pritcher got the win in 6.0 innings of work, with seven hits and just two runs (5-3).
The Blue Hose opened the second game with three straight hits and looked to put some runs on the board with bases loaded and no outs. PC flied out and hit into yet another double play, the sixth of the day and first of the second game, to come away with nothing to show for the offensive effort.
The Citadel led off the bottom of the inning with two singles and a ground out to put runners on second and third with one out. William Ladd hit a sacrifice fly to bring home a run and Mackert tripled to right center to bring in another and the Bulldogs led 2-0.
PC singled twice to open the third inning and Brad Zebedis reached on an error to load the bases yet again with no outs. After Micklon took first on a fielder's choice that saw The Citadel tag out the runner at home, Horton hit to the second baseman, who made the out at second, which allowed Hite to come home for PC's first run of the game, and the Blue Hose trailed 2-1.
After a quiet fourth and fifth inning, The Citadel made it a 3-1 game after Mackert singled, advanced to second on a Felder single and came home when Legare Jones singled to center field.
PC evened the score in the seventh when Horton singled up the middle with two outs, driving in Zebedis, who had doubled to left field his at-bat, and Hite, who had reached base on a single to left.
The tie broke in the bottom of the eighth, when Mackert doubled down the right field line and advanced to third off a Felder single. Felder stole second and came home, along with Mackert, when Pless singled to center field, giving The Citadel the 5-3 lead.
Bryce Hines, who came in relief in the sixth inning, retired PC in order in the ninth, to pick up the win (4-3), giving up no hits and no runs.
Steven Richardson (Howe, Texas) went 7.0 innings, and gave up five runs off 11 hits for the loss (4-4)
PC is next in action Tuesday, May 3, when it travels to Davidson for a 6 p.m. contest. The Blue Hose return home for the final time this season when they host Winthrop in a three-game series beginning Friday, May 6 at 3 p.m.
