Saturday, May 23, 2009

DELAND, Fla. (May 23, 2009) - After rallying to tie the game in the eighth, the ETSU baseball team had their season come to an end dropping a 5-4 heartbreaker to Lipscomb Saturday afternoon in the semifinal game at the Atlantic Sun Tournament at Melching Field in DeLand, Fla.

ETSU finishes the season with a 25-28 overall record, while Lipscomb improves to 24-31 and will play the winner of Jacksonville and Belmont in the A-Sun championship game.

Josh Smith picked up the win for Lipscomb throwing 1.1 scoreless innings no hitting the Bucs with two strikeouts to go to 7-4 on the year. Senior Darren Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C) was tabbed with the loss surrendering one run on three hits with two walks and struck out one.

The Bucs were led offensively by the designated hitter Chris Rankhorn (Gallatin, Tenn.) who finished his ETSU career going 3-for-4 and scored two runs. Third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) went 2-for-4 and drove in three.

The Bisons jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by first baseman Justin Sanders, an error by the ETSU right fielder Cory Betterson (Atlanta, Ga.) and a safety squeeze by catcher Logan Hostettler.

Reeder narrowed the gap with a 2-run single in the top of the seventh to cut the Lipscomb lead to 3-2.

Lipscomb added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by M.L. Williams to take a 4-2 lead. Caldwell came in with the bases loaded and one out and got a huge strikeout and ground out to keep the game within reach.

In the top of the eighth, the Bucs again cut into the Bisons lead as shortstop Garrett May (Roswell, Ga.) came in to score on an infield single by Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to make the score 4-3. Later in the inning, Reeder tied the game at 4-all as he singled in Rankhorn.

The Bisons won the game in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off single by shortstop Branden Cadavid to make the final 5-4.

Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

Lipscomb 5, ETSU 4 (May 23, 2009 at DeLand, Fla.)
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ETSU............ 000  000  220      -      4    10  0  (25-28, 10-20 A-Sun)

LU.................. 000  300  101  -  5    13     1   (23-32, 17-13 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Burton; Dustin Plumlee (5); Josh Gonzaga (7); Darren Caldwell (7)

LU - Rex Brothers; Brandon McClurg (6); Josh Smith (8)

Win - Josh Smith (7-4) Loss - Darren Caldwell (4-3)