The Citadel pitcher George Derrick Floyd didn’t want to give up the ball.
The senior from West Florence High School wanted his final game in a Bulldogs uniform to be a memorable one.
Mission accomplished.
Floyd threw eight innings, and Travis Elliott and Anthony Hausner combined for six hits, four runs and three RBIs to lead The Citadel past Western Carolina 12-11 in an elimination game at the Southern Conference Baseball Tournament in Greenville at Fluor Field on May 23.
The Bulldogs (31-25) will face the winner of the Mercer-Wofford game May 23 beginning at 3:30 p.m.
It wasn’t a flawless performance by any means for Floyd, but the 5-10, 185-pound right-hander battled until the very end.
“We got an unbelievable start from George Derrick Floyd,” said The Citadel coach Russell Triplett. “We were going to let him go all nine innings; it might have been his last time out because he didn’t want to give up the ball.
“He gave up some hits and gave up some runs, but he continued to battle. There were a couple of innings where Western could have blown the game open, but he shut the door and made the big pitch and got the out when we needed it.”
After scoring just three runs the night before in a lopsided loss to Wofford, the Bulldogs’ offense pounded out 15 hits as five different players had multi-hit games.
“Scoring in the first inning and then continuing to score throughout the game was big for us,” Triplett said. “We got contributions from up-and-down our lineup, and we found different ways to score. Travis and Anthony each had big-time days for us, and you need your best players to step up in tournament situations.”
The Bulldogs appeared to have the game under control leading 9-4 after five innings. But the Catamounts answered with three runs in the sixth and added three more in the ninth with two runners on in the ninth inning.
Maddox Webb closed out the game in the ninth.
“Today’s game was symbolic of our season,” Triplett said. “Nothing has been easy. These guys don’t want it that way. It means more when it’s not. To hang on and win the game was big for us and big for our program.
“Finding a way to win in the tournament when facing adversity is the mark of a team that fights until the last out. We swung the bats well and got off to a quick start.”
