A Rainy Sunday That Changed Everything
February 18, 1990, did not arrive with fanfare. College Park was still battered and partially rebuilt after Hurricane Hugo, and the Bulldogs were coming off a 5–3 loss to NC State the day before. The Citadel entered the game 1–1, hardly the profile of a team about to embark on something historic.
Then one emphatic win flipped a switch for a program that had spent months practicing in parking lots and dodging construction noise.
The 12–1 victory over NC State was decisive, and the final score hinted at something deeper than a simple rebound win. Pitcher Ken Britt later said on the Lost Letterman podcast that it was the moment everyone realized, “damn we good.”
It was the first domino in what became The Citadel Bulldogs 26-game winning streak, the longest in the nation during the 1990 season.
Context Matters: Life After Hurricane Hugo
To appreciate the significance of that win, context is everything. Just five months earlier, Hurricane Hugo tore through Charleston as a Category 4 storm, killing 27 people in South Carolina and leaving massive destruction in its wake. The Citadel’s campus wasn’t spared.
College Park was essentially unusable.
For much of the preseason, The Citadel’s baseball team practiced wherever it could find space. Parking lots doubled as practice fields, turning routine drills into something closer to sandlot baseball. When the season arrived, the Bulldogs didn’t regain full access to their field until a week before Opening Day.
Even during games, construction crews worked around the stadium. The dugouts were incomplete and roofless, and the sound of rebuilding never fully stopped. And yet, the Bulldogs responded not with excuses, but with wins.
The secret sauce was leadership and competitiveness. Three players from the team would go on to serve as head coaches at the Division I level. Dan McDonnell became head coach at Louisville in 2007, Chris Lemonis became head coach at Indiana in 2015 and later Mississippi State, and Tony Skole served as head coach at East Tennessee State from 2000 to 2017 before taking over at The Citadel in 2018.
The Pitching Blueprint Behind the Streak
The backbone of The Citadel Bulldogs 26-game winning streak was pitching depth and reliability. Weekend series were anchored by Richard Shirer, Billy Baker, and Britt, a trio that consistently limited damage and handed leads to a defense that rarely beat itself.
Midweek games—often where streaks quietly die—were stabilized by freshman Steve Basch. His ability to throw strikes and keep the Bulldogs competitive prevented the inevitable letdown games that usually interrupt long runs.
Offense Without Holes
What made The Citadel dangerous was balance. They had speed to steal bases—McDonnell drew 62 walks, posted a .401 on-base percentage, and stole 38 bases. They had power—Anthony Jenkins earned All-America honors after hitting .397, with 16 doubles, 16 home runs and 68 RBIs. They could hit-and-run, bunt, and hit for average, with Gettys Glaze and Baker serving as relentless, difficult outs every time through the order.
Combine that offensive approach with solid defense, and the Bulldogs created a formula that worked everywhere—home, road, neutral site, rain, cold, noise, and chaos.
From Overlooked to Unavoidable
The Bulldogs finished fifth in the Southern Conference in 1989 and were picked sixth in the preseason poll for 1990. After losing the home opener in February, The Citadel didn’t lose again until late March.
During that stretch, The Citadel Bulldogs 26-game winning streak carried them through the regular season, propelled them into the national rankings, and helped produce a 30–6 home record despite ongoing construction. By season’s end, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 6 in the final regular-season Collegiate Baseball poll.
Why February 18 Still Matters
The College World Series run tends to dominate the conversation—and deservedly so—but it all traces back to that soggy Sunday against NC State. The streak didn’t begin with fireworks or national rankings. It began with resilience, confidence, and a team that had already weathered far worse than a rain-soaked afternoon.
To this day, The Citadel remains the only military academy to reach the College World Series. That achievement started not in Omaha, but at College Park, amid construction debris and wet jerseys.
The Point After
The February 18, 1990 win wasn’t just a bounce-back performance—it was a declaration. Coming off Hurricane Hugo, preseason doubt, and an opening loss, The Citadel Bulldogs found their identity in one emphatic afternoon. The Citadel Bulldogs 26-game winning streak didn’t feel historic yet, but the foundation was laid. Sometimes history starts quietly, with a 12–1 scoreline, a muddy field, and a team that suddenly realizes it’s a lot better than anyone thought.
