Gamble Pays Off

COLUMBIA -- Asher Wojciechowski got his way last weekend. Citadel baseball coach Fred Jordan got his way this weekend. And suddenly, the Columbia regional is looking a lot more interesting to the Bulldogs than it did Monday.

Jordan gambled by starting junior left-hander Matt Talley instead of ace pitcher Wojciechowski in Friday afternoon's NCAA regional opener against Virginia Tech. Talley paid off big by working six shutout innings in a 7-2 victory over the second-seeded Hokies before 5,075 fans at Carolina Stadium.

As a result, the third-seeded Bulldogs (43-20) will have Wojciechowski, a prospective first-round pick in Monday's major league draft, on the mound for a winners' bracket showdown with top-seeded South Carolina at 7 p.m. today.

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Citadel vs Virginia Tech NCAA Regionals

The Citadel face off against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Carolina Stadium in Columbia,SC Friday June 4, 2010. The Bulldog were the victors 7-2.

"Wojo got his call on Sunday," Jordan said, referring to Wojciechowski's determination to pitch in the Southern Conference tournament title game last weekend. "And I got my call on this. No way I'd send him out for this game when we had a fresh arm in Matt Talley. Now, Wojo has got his normal rest, and whoever we face, we will feel good about running him out there."

Virginia Tech (38-21), in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000, must now play out of the losers' bracket.

"Credit to Matt Talley," said Hokies coach Pete Hughes. "He pitched out of some jams. We didn't. They got big hits with two outs, runners in scoring position. We didn't. Now we have to figure out how to win this thing through the loser's bracket."

The Bulldogs were not thrilled Monday when they learned they were headed for Columbia for the third straight time in the regionals. But 20 years after The Citadel's 1990 team made its magical run to the College World Series, this year's team finds itself four wins from Omaha.

Against Virginia Tech, one of eight ACC teams in the regionals, every Bulldog in the lineup got a hit as The Citadel won its 13th straight game, the longest active streak in the nation. David Greene's two-run home run keyed a four-run second inning, and Grant Richards drove in two runs in the sixth as the Bulldogs built a 7-0 lead by the seventh.

"When you get good pitching and defense like we have been, the more confident you are," said senior second baseman Bryan Altman, who had three hits. "Our offense has been feeding off that, and that makes a big difference."

Talley, from Sumter, shut out the Hokies for six innings on a humid, largely windless day before giving up a two-run homer to Sean Ryan in the seventh. He allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out three, frustrating Virginia Tech hitters with 13 flyouts to improve to 8-3.

"To be honest, I really didn't feel that good on the mound," Talley said, "especially in the third, fourth and fifth. But we had that big cushion, and I was just trying to prevent a big inning. If they scored a run here or there, it wasn't a big deal.'

In the fourth, third baseman Greene bailed Talley out of a two-out, two-on jam by charging a grounder, snaring it on the short hop and nipping Michael Seaborn at first base. There were two on and two out again in the fifth when shortstop Kyle Jordan took Steve Domecus' hot shot off the chest and got a force play at second.

"If they don't make those plays, that's big momentum in their dugout," Talley said. "A four-run lead can turn to 4-2, and it's a completely different game. Those were huge plays."

The Bulldogs played both small and long ball in the second to rough up Hokies starter Justin Wright (8-5), who lasted 5 1/3 innings. Altman's double, Justin Mackert's single and a safety squeeze bunt by Kyle Jordan brought in the first run before Greene caught a pitch off the end of the bat and sailed it about 330 feet to right for a two-run homer, his seventh.

"Off the bat, I was just hoping it was deep enough to get the runner over from second to third," Greene said. "But it carried out. I'll take it."

Another Mackert single and Kyle Jordan's foul-line hugging bunt put two runners on in the sixth for Richards, whose single made it 6-0. Nick Orvin singled and scored on Altman's single to make it 7-0 in the seventh.

"We are executing fairly well," Fred Jordan said. "We're getting our bunts down. Our guys don't overswing, they don't strike out right now, although that could change tomorrow. But they are extremely unselfish and well-schooled in the short game, and today we hit a ball out of the park. We normally don't do that."

Then again, this season has been anything but normal for a Citadel team picked to finish third or fourth in the SoCon.

"We're used to being underdogs," Fred Jordan said. "We'll be underdogs in this tournament until it's over. But we're playing loose, and we'll see what happens."

E--Mackert, Richards, Seaborn, Balisteri. DP--VT 2. LOB--Citadel 5, VT 9. 2B--Altman. HR--Greene, Ryan. SH--Orvin, Jordan, Greene. CS--Felder, Altman, Richards.

WP--Zechino 2. CI--Richards.

Time--2:45. Att: 5,075.