Charleston, SC-Ken Egleton and Griff Beckham combined to allow only one run to lead The Citadel in its regular season finale over VMI, 5-1, in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon in Riley Park.
The Citadel (32-23, 19-11 SoCon) took an early 1-0 lead in the third as Matt Matulia led off the inning with his first triple of the game and scored on Jon Aughey's RBI-single. With Matulia on third, Aughey laid down a bunt that squeaked through the infield for a base hit. The Bulldogs added two runs in the fifth expanding the lead to 3-0. After walking to start the rally, Andy Phillips advanced to third on Brook Dantzler's double to right and later scored on a VMI fielding error. Third baseman Chris Ard promptly plated Dantzler on a sacrifice fly to right to put the Dogs out in front 3-0.
VMI (22-26, 16-14 SoCon) scored its only run in the seventh on a two-out RBI-double down the left field line by Jason Annis (Placentia, Calif. / Valencia). Elliot Erbe (Portsmouth, Va. / Western Branch) got the rally started with a one-out base on balls and advanced into scoring position on a Jon Wade (Marietta, Ga. / Harrison) free pass. Erbe then scored on Annis' only hit of the game. Citadel reliever Griff Beckham got Matt Smith (Chesapeake, Va. / Great Bridge) to pop up for the final out of the inning stranding Keydet runners at second and third.
In the bottom of the seventh the Bulldogs added two insurance runs to put the game out of reach 5-1. Josh Stackley got a bases loaded single to drive-in Phillips from third for one RBI. Allan Wimmer (Vienna, Va. / James Madison), the VMI left fielder, could not come up with the ball on Stackley's base hit allowing Cannon to come around and score on the error.
Freshman hurler Ken Egleton (6-3) earned the win for The Citadel on six innings of work. He did not allow a run and scattered three hits, while striking out five. VMI's Jeremy Harper (Seneca Rocks, W.Va. / Pendleton County) (3-4) took the loss as he surrendered three runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Griff Beckham tallied his first save of his career as he pitched the final three innings allowing only one run on one hit.
On the season, the Keydets recorded their first winning season in SoCon play since 1989, set a new school record for most conference wins (16) and tied the school mark for most total wins (22).
"It has been a good season," noted VMI head coach Tom Slater. "We're playing with a lot of confidence right now and truly believe that we have a good shot at winning the conference tourney."
VMI will be the seventh seed in the SoCon tourney and will face the second seed, Georgia Southern, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C.
Courtesy of The Citadel Sports Information Department
