The following information was provided by Mike Hoffman of The Citadel's Media Relations Department.
A season after reaching the brink of the Southern Conference championship, The Citadel returns all but two of its top players as it looks to claim its first league title since 2010 and eighth under head coach Fred Jordan.
Admittedly, the two losses are big ones as the Bulldogs will be without the services of catcher Joe Jackson and pitcher Austin Pritcher. Jackson departed for the professional ranks after a junior season in which he was named to a pair of All-America teams and the Most Outstanding Player of the SoCon tournament. He was selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers.
Pritcher was named the SoCon Pitcher of the Year, the eighth Bulldog to earn that award under Jordan and third in the past five seasons, and was chosen by the Detroit Tigers in the June amateur draft.
Other than Jackson, The Citadel returns the remainder of its everyday lineup from a year ago, a unit that has a nice blend of power and speed which enables the Bulldogs to score in a variety of ways. The Citadel batted .310 as a team and hit 66 home runs last year, just four shy of the school record, while swiping 67 bases.
The team also has three pitchers who have been part of the weekend rotation as well as a great deal of experience in the bullpen, especially in the back end.
The schedule will provide a formidable challenge as the Bulldogs face 10 teams which won at least 35 games last year and seven that appeared in the NCAA postseason. The Citadel faces recent College World Series participants Louisville, Oklahoma and Nebraska in addition to its annual home-and-home series with South Carolina.
The SoCon should be as competitive as ever. Elon, which edged the Bulldogs 6-5 in last May's conference championship game, and Georgia Southern will be near the top again in its final season before leaving the league, and Western Carolina is the defending regular season champion.
"I think we have one of the better schedules in the country this year," said Jordan. "I've never been afraid to fail in February as long as it makes us a better team in April and May."
Following the regular season, the SoCon tournament returns to Charleston where The Citadel will play host for the first time since 2011 and 22nd time overall.
Pitching
Senior Logan Cribb and junior James Reeves, both left handers, have established themselves as The Citadel's top two starters, and now it's a matter of which order the duo will work the Friday and Saturday games. Both have big game experience and now must translate that into the front of the rotation.
Cribb started a pair of midweek games and appeared in eight games in relief before rejoining the weekend rotation in late March. He finished the season with a record of 4-3, ranked seventh in the SoCon with an ERA of 3.60 and opponents batted only .253 against him, the eighth-best mark in the league.
Reeves started the season as the Saturday starter before working out of the bullpen the rest of the year. He was particularly effective in SoCon games, posting an ERA of 2.53 with 27 strikeouts in 32 innings and limiting league foes to a batting average of just .235.
"The one who is able to manage the game the best will be our Friday starter. He needs to be able to put us in a position to win the game," said Jordan. "In some ways, however, the Saturday starter might be more important in getting you even or clinching the series."
Five candidates are in the mix for the 3-4-5 slots in The Citadel rotation, including the Sunday starter role. Sophomore right-handers Austin Mason and Austin Livingston have the most starting experience, but junior righty Brett Tompkins and sophomore southpaw Nate Brecklin showed the most improvement from last spring.
The wild card in that mix is junior lefty Kevin Connell, who started 11 times as a freshman in 2012 and turned in a solid performance in that role in the semifinals of the SoCon tournament against Appalachian State last May. He will start the spring in the bullpen but could work his way into the Sunday starting job.
Mason was the Sunday starter during the 2013 campaign. He was only credited with three wins but that was a bit misleading as he turned in several outstanding starts that resulted in no-decisions, including an eight-inning outing in which he allowed only five hits and no earned runs against Georgia Southern.
Livingston started eight midweek games and picked up four victories, including one over Atlantic Sun champion East Tennessee State, while also working four shutout innings in a no-decision at South Carolina.
Tompkins has appeared in 25 games out of the bullpen and as a spot starter the past two years. He earned his first career win with four innings of one-run ball against Akron last season. Brecklin appeared in six games including two innings of shutout ball against Winthrop in his debut.
The Citadel bullpen should be a strength this season with the entire relief corps returning. That group is headed by sophomore closer Skylar Hunter, a right hander who saved 13 games last season, tied for the second most in school history. Hunter struck out 44 batters in only 35.1 innings and earned a berth on the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America squad.
Senior righty David Rivera appeared in 40 games as the primary set up man and earned five wins and a save while striking 42 in 44.2 innings. Sophomore right-hander Zach Sherrill was a workhouse out of the pen, called upon an NCAA regular season high 48 times to set a school record.
Balancing the bullpen from the left side are juniors Ross White and Connell (unless he is the starting rotation). White was particularly effective in SoCon games last season, working to an ERA of 2.25 in league games.
Righty Zach Lavery is in his first season on the active roster after redshirting last season and could also work his way into bullpen picture.
"With the depth we have in the bullpen, our goal is to get into the sixth or seventh inning with a lead and let them take it the rest of the way," said Jordan.
Infield
Joe Jackson leaves big shoes to fill behind the plate, but senior Ryan Kilgallen established himself as the starting catcher with an outstanding fall during which he was the team's MVP. He has always had the defensive skills and has improved greatly with the bat.
"He is a true testament to Citadel baseball – the bullpen catcher who eventually earns a starting job like Dan Crosby and Grant Richards," said Jordan.
Sophomore Stephen Windham saw limited action last year but played well in the fall and will be part of a two-catcher system unless either he or Kilgallen gets hot and takes control of the job.
The rest of the infield is just about set with six players available to man the four spots. Back for their third seasons as starters in the middle of the infield are juniors Mason Davis at second and Johnathan Stokes at short.
Davis has been the starter at second for all 118 games in his Citadel career and is the sparkplug of the offense at the top of the lineup as well as an exceptional defensive player. A year ago the switch hitter ranked in the top 10 in the SoCon in seven categories, including a team-leading 22 steals.
Stokes always possessed an outstanding glove but emerged as an offensive force a year ago. He improved his batting average from .212 as a freshman to .309 and drove in 52 runs despite hitting near the bottom of the lineup.
Junior Bo Thompson and senior Calvin Orth are competing for the job at first base with the other likely serving as the primary DH. Orth has also seen action at third base during his career and may again at some points this year.
Thompson started last season at first but after suffering an ankle injury early in the year came back as the DH. He belted 14 home runs, including three in one game against Samford, to rank 20th in the nation and drove in 52 runs. Following the season he was selected to compete against some of the best sluggers in the nation at the TD Ameritrade Home Run Derby in Omaha, Neb.
Orth stepped into the lineup at first when Thompson hurt his ankle and took full advantage of his opportunity. He batted .316 including a team season-high 14-game hitting streak while adding seven homers and 33 RBI.
If junior Bailey Rush "plays like he's capable of" in the words of Jordan, he will be the starting third baseman and give the Bulldogs another left-handed bat in the lineup. Rush struggled for much of the 2013 season but came on strong at the end, hitting safely in 10 of his final 16 games and batting .300 over that span.
Sophomore Bret Hines started 18 times at third and saw action in 23 others as a late-inning defensive replacement. He is a versatile player who can be called upon at both second and short as well. Freshman Barrett Charpia could also see playing time if needed.
Outfield
The Citadel returns all three of its starting outfielders in seniors Hughston Armstrong, Tyler Griffin and Drew DeKerlegand.
Armstrong is in his fifth year in the program after graduating in May. The center fielder broke through with a tremendous season in 2013, ranking in the top 10 in the SoCon in five categories and the top 50 in the nation in four departments. He was fourth in the league and 30th nationally with a batting average of .379, scored 57 runs and swiped 18 bases while being caught only once.
Griffin is back for his third season as the starting right fielder. The switch hitter missed 18 games last year with a foot injury but still hit 12 home runs and drove in 52 while batting .314. He blasted three homers in a game against North Florida, a feat that helped earn him a national hitter of the week award from Collegiate Baseball and SoCon Player of the Month for February.
DeKerlegand will handle left field for the second season after starting at third base his freshman and sophomore campaigns. He accounted for 24 extra base hits last year, including 14 doubles and five triples, and also is proficient at getting on base as exemplified by his 33 walks and 15 hit by pitches.
Also competing for playing time in the outfield as well as the DH is sophomore Jason Smith. He played in 34 games with 13 starts as a freshman and then turned in the best offensive performance of any Bulldog during the fall. Newcomer Austin Mapes could also see action as a role player.
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