June 6, 2010

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CBI Live
Wates, Sosnoskie lead Hokies past Bulldogs

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Just enough offense, just enough pitching.

Austin Wates and Buddy Sosnoskie both drove in two, and three pitchers combined to hold the Bulldogs to three runs as second-seeded Virginia Tech nipped third-seeded The Citadel 4-3 Sunday afternoon in an elimination game in the Columbia Regional in front of 4,224 fans at Carolina Stadium.

The Hokies (40-21) will face top-seeded South Carolina Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Tech will have to defeat the Gamecocks twice to win the regional.

“Good team effort,” said Hokie head coach Pete Hughes. “The Citadel never goes away. It was a grinder of a game. We have to get ready to try to win a regional now.”

Tech got on the board in the top of the first as Michael Seaborn drew a one-out walk and Wates brought him in with a two-out triple to right center.

Sosnoskie went deep in the second for Tech. He homered in three straight at-bats and gave the Hokies a 2-0 lead.

Sean Ryan singled and scored on a groundout by Wates to give Tech a 3-0 advantage.

Hokie starter Jesse Hahn was forced to leave while warming up for the bottom of the fourth. He allowed two hits in three scoreless innings with no walks and two strikeouts. Hahn threw 35 pitches.

The Bulldogs (43-22) finally got on the board in the fourth against reliever Joe Mantiply as Bryan Altman had a leadoff double and scored on a base hit by Justin Mackert. Grant Richards had a single to plate Mackert later in the frame as The Citadel pulled to within one at 3-2.

Tech tallied an insurance run in the top of the sixth as Wates had a leadoff double and scored on a groundout by Sosnoskie to give the Hokies a 4-2 advantage.

Simonelli had a RBI single with two outs in the seventh as the Bulldogs pulled to within one, but The Citadel stranded two in the seventh and one in both the eighth and ninth to fall one run short.

Mantiply (4-1) went 3.2 innings with four hits, two earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts to earn the victory. Ben Rowen allowed two hits in the final 2.1 scoreless innings with no walks and two strikeouts to record his sixth save.

Bulldog freshman starter Michael Clevinger (5-3) went a season-long 7.2 innings with nine hits, four earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts.

Wates and Ryan finished with two hits for Tech.

Simonelli had two hits for The Citadel.

The Hokies have won two NCAA Tournament games for the first time since 1954.