The Citadel Tops Samford for Ninth SoCon Baseball Title

GREENVILLE, SC – The Citadel used a strong pitching performance from ace Will Holmes and some early offense to beat Samford Saturday night, 3-1, for its ninth SoCon Baseball Championship win and the conference’s automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Baseball Championship.

The Citadel (35-24) remained one of the hottest teams in the country, winning its eighth in a row and 10th in the last 11 games.

The Bulldogs drew early energy from a large, loud partisan Bulldog crowd to plate a pair of runs in the top of the first on timely RBI singles from Christian Stratis and Zach Hunt. TJ Anderson drew a two-out walk and Michael Gibson was plunked to fuel the rally, with Stratis driving home Anderson with a poke through the left side and Hunt scoring Gibson on a hit up the middle.

Samford (31-25) got a run back in the bottom of the sixth after Parker McDonald led off with a walk and moved around to third on a wild pitch and a ground ball. Pierce Dutton drove home the run with a ground ball before Holmes worked out of the jam.

The Citadel got back-to-back doubles from Zach Hunt and Sam Dansky in the eighth to go up 3-1, but Samford would threaten in the bottom half. Pierce Dutton singled to second base with two outs and Jeffrey Ince reached on a dropped third strike that got to the backstop. Cade Carr hit a ball to third base that proved to be a touch chance, but Dansky’s dive at the bag forced out Dutton at third to end the threat.

Tournament Most Outstanding Player Michael Gibson took the mound again in the ninth for his second inning of work and got a nice fielding play in right by Jayden Williams on a 105-mph line drive off the bat of All-SoCon outfielder Jake Sounders for the first out of the frame. After a groundout, Gibson fanned the final batter of the game for his third save of the tournament and the win.

The Citadel finished with 11 hits and had 77 knocks over their five tournament games, just 13 shy of the record set by UNC Greensboro in 2022. Williams led the way with three hits (3-for-5), with Stratis (2-for-3), and Hunt (2-for-4) also collecting multiple hits. Gibson (1-for-4, run) finished the tournament with 14 hits, just two shy of the record set by Kennedy Jones (UNCG) in 2022.

Holmes (7-4) picked up the win, pitching 7.0 strong innings with only one run allowed. He gave up only two singles, walked just one and struck out 10 batters. Andrew Buffkin came on for two outs, and Gibson fanned two in 1.1 innings of relief.

Samford got hits from Ince (1-for-4), Carr (1-for-4), Eddie Marshall (1-for-3), and Dutton (1-for-2).

The Citadel won its first tournament title since 2010 and will learn its next postseason destination on Monday at Noon when the NCAA releases its championship bracket.

2026 SoCon Baseball All-Tournament Team

SP – Will Holmes, The Citadel

SP – Garrett Lambert, Mercer (tie)

SP – Mason Blasche, Samford (tie)

RP – Cannon Lee, UNC Greensboro

C – Phillips Daniels, The Citadel

1B – Zach Hunt, The Citadel

2B – Jeffrey Ince, Samford

SS – Lane Tobin, The Citadel (tie)

SS – Gus Gandy, Samford (tie)

3B – Brant Baughcum, Mercer

OF – Chris Katz, Mercer

OF – Luke Boykin, Samford

OF – Christian Stratis, The Citadel

DH – Michael Gibson, The Citadel

2026 Walt Nadzak Most Outstanding Player: Michael Gibson, The Citadel (DH / RP)

2026 SoCon Baseball Championship Results

Presented by Holston Gases

Wednesday, May 20

Game 1: #5 The Citadel 21, #8 VMI 11 (8 innings) 

Game 2: #7 UNCG 6, #6 ETSU 5

Game 3: #5 The Citadel 13, #4 Wofford 7

Game 4: #3 Samford 13, #7 UNCG 1

Thursday, May 21

Game 5: #5 The Citadel 9, #1 Mercer 2

Game 6: #3 Samford 9, #2 Western Carolina 5

Game 7: #1 Mercer 9, #4 Wofford 8

Game 8: #2 Western Carolina 4, #7 UNC Greensboro 3

Friday, May 22

Game 9: #5 The Citadel 14, #1 Mercer 4

Game 10: #3 Samford 5, #2 Western Carolina 1

Saturday, May 23

Game 11: #5 The Citadel 3, #3 Samford 1