CHARLESTON, S.C. ? After a long 12-8 victory in the first game of its season-opening series at The Citadel, Indiana State had to play 21 innings of baseball to earn a sweep of Saturday's double header.  ISU (3-0) picked up a 9-6 win in 10 innings in the first of two games on the day and then earned an 8-7 win in 11 innings in game two at Riley Park. 

The Sycamores started the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2000 season, when ISU started 3-0 with a sweep over Murray State under head coach Bob Warn.

“It was great to see our guys battle all day and pick themselves up after giving up some leads,” said head coach Lindsay Meggs.  “We continued to work hard at the plate and that paid off in the later innings of both games today.  I think this team showed that they are going to fight all the way to the end, and that's a good sign this early in the season.”

In game one, the Citadel got out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run single by Bryan Altman in the bottom of the second inning.  After a scoreless third inning, the Sycamores took the lead with five runs on five hits and an error in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead.  Junior Nick Ciolli led off the inning with a single up the middle and senior Brady Shoemaker followed with a home run to right field to plate the first two runs of the inning.

Junior Luke Fieser then doubled down the right field line and advanced to third on a ground out by junior Ben Caple.  Senior Bronco Lafrenz was next up and walked to give the Sycamores runners on first and third with just one out.  Senior Pascual Del Real then reached on an error by Citadel shortstop Kyle Jordan which allowed Fieser to score the third run of the frame and Lafrenz to advance to third on the errant throw.  Junior Ben Ferrell then singled to bring in Lafrenz as Del Real moved to second base.  Freshman Kyle Burnam came up and singled to center field to score Del Real for the fifth and final run of the inning.

The Bulldogs answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to cut the score to 5-3 and then took the lead at 6-5 after scoring three runs on four hits and an error in the bottom of the sixth inning.  A two-run single by Chris McGuiness highlighted the three-run inning for the Citadel while Altman added a RBI single.

ISU tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the ninth inning on a Shoemaker single to right field that scored junior Ryan Strausborger from second base.  The Sycamores had a chance to win the game out-right later in the inning as they loaded the bases with two out, but Bulldog pitcher Sonny Meade forced freshman Koby Kraemer to ground out to send the game into the bottom of the ninth.

Senior Matt Shelton took the mound in the ninth for the Sycamores and got out of the inning with just one hit and a strike out to send the game to extra innings.  In the 10^th inning, junior Tyler Graham led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Senior Brian Ramirez then walked and Burnam put down a sacrifice run to put the ISU runners and second and third with just one out.  Strausborger was up next and was intentionally walked to get to Ciolli, who proceeded to rip a single to right field and pick up two RBI as Graham and Ramirez scored.  Ciolli later scored on a sacrifice fly by Fieser to give the Sycamores a 9-6 lead headed to the bottom of the tenth inning.

Shelton continued to throw the ball strong for ISU, as he put the Bulldogs down in order in the bottom of the 10^th to give the Sycamores their second win in two days.  Shelton (1-0) earned the win after pitching two scoreless innings and striking out two batters.  Meade (0-1) suffered the loss for The Citadel, after surrendering two runs on two hits in just a third of an inning.  Shoemaker led the way for the Sycamores in game one with a 4-for-5 effort, a home run and three RBI. 

“Brady did a great job of being patient and not chasing bad pitches,” said Meggs.  “He made their pitchers throw to him and he took advantage of some mistakes. Nick also did a great job and both of those guys are pretty locked in right now and producing well in the middle of the order for us.”

In game two, the Bulldogs jumped on ISU starter Joe Rodriguez early in the game and score five runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Trey Thomas had the big blow for the Citadel in the inning with a two-run home run to left field while Richard Jones and McGuinness also drove in runs to put The Citadel up 5-0 after one inning of play.

ISU got a run back in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 5-1.  Burnam led off the inning with a double to right field and later scored on a RBI ground out by Ciolli.  The score stayed there until the top of the fourth inning, when ISU scored five runs on four hits to take a 6-5 lead over the Bulldogs.

With one out in the inning, junior Luke Fieser was hit by a pitch and senior Brian Jett walked to get the ISU rally started.  Ramirez then singled to load the bases for junior Ben Ferrell, who drew a walk and scored Fieser.  After a strikeout by Burnam, Strausborger singled to center field and picked up two RBI as Jett and Ramirez scored.  Ciolli was up next and tripled to center field and picked up two more RBI as Ferrell and Strausborger scored to cap off the explosive inning for ISU.

The Citadel knotted the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but ISU got the run right back in the top of the seventh inning on a bases loaded walk to junior Ben Caple that scored Graham from third base.  However, the ISU lead would not hold up as Meade doubled down the right field line to score Nick Orvin and tie the game 7-7 at the end of seven innings.

The game would stay tied until the top of the 11^th inning, when Ferrell singled in Jett to give the Sycamores an 8-7 lead.  The Citadel could not get that run back, though, as Shelton (2-0) shut down the Bulldogs in order in the bottom half of the inning to secure the Saturday sweep for the Sycamores.  Sheleton threw three innings of scoreless baseball in relief, allowing just one hit while striking out three to pick up his second win of the day.  Ciolli led the way with three RBI for ISU, while Ferrell finished with two this and two RBI.

“We joked with Matt after the game about how rare it is for one guy to get two wins in a day,” said Meggs.  “We needed someone to come in there and throw something different at their hitters, and he did that with his slider today and was the perfect match up for us.  He's worked really hard to get where he is.”

The Sycamores and Bulldogs wrap up their four-game series on Sunday at Noon at Riley Park.  Junior Eric Valdez will toe the rubber for ISU in game four and Matt Talley will take the ball for The Citadel.