The Citadel Pounds NC State Baseball

Feb. 23, 2003

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel used a combination of long ball and little ball Sunday evening to hand NC State a 15-2 defeat in the final game of the Charleston Crab House Challenge. The Bulldogs banged out 17 hits, six of which did not leave the infield, and a pair of home runs, one of which was a grand slam.

The Citadel improved to 2-3 with the win, while NC State fell to 5-3. Bulldogs starter John Ellis (1-0) threw six strong innings, allowing one run on five hits, to get the win. He struck out seven and did not issue a walk. Wolfpack starter Nate Cretarolo (1-2) suffered through five tough innings, allowing nine runs, seven earned, on eight hits. He walked two and struck out seven.

The Bulldogs dinged Cretarolo for a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Jon Aughey led off with a double to left-center, and Jason Randall hit a one-out line-drive homer to deep center field.

The Wolfpack defense led to two unearned runs for the Bulldogs in the bottom of the fourth. Randall led off and reached on an error, and Chip Cannon singled to right to put runners on first and third. Josh Stackley bunted Cannon to second, and Brook Dantzler struck out. Chris Ard singled to drive in a run and then stole second. Matt Matulia singled just past the bag at third base to drive in Cannon and give The Citadel a 4-0 lead.

The Citadel blew the game wide open in the fifth. Aughey singled and then stole second and third. Andy Phillips struck out, but Randall walked and Cannon singled to left to drive in Aughey. After Josh Stackey flied to center field, Dantzler beat out a grounder to first base, just beating Cretarolo to the bag, and Ard hit the next pitch for a grand-slam home run, ballooning the lead to 9-0.

The Pack finally scratched for a run in the top of the sixth. Marc Maynor reached on an infield single and Joe Gaetti bunted for a single. Ellis hit Colt Morton with a pitch to load the bases, and David Hicks drove in the run with a grounder to first base.

The Bulldogs came right back with two more in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Colin Brown. Aughey reached on a one-out single and scored on Andy Phillips' triple down the left-field line. Phillips came in to score when Cannon tripled off the top of the fence in dead center field.

The Wolfpack scored again in the top of the eighth when Maynor doubled, took third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gaetti. The Citadel responded with four more in the bottom of the eighth. Mark Egleton doubled to left, Randall singled to center and Cannon walked to load the bases. Josh Stackley doubled in two runs, a run came in on a wild pitch, and Ard picked up an RBI with a groundout.

NC State will return to action on Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Furman at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, N.C.

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Team Stats

Marc Maynor

Joe Gaetti

Colt Morton

David Hicks