Friday, April 16, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 16, 2010) - Centerfielder Matthew Scruggs' (Knoxville, Tenn.) four-hit performance powered the ETSU baseball team to a 13-10 win over Mercer Friday night at Cardinal Park.

 

Sophomore Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) picked up the win for the Bucs (20-13, 9-4 A-Sun) throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief while striking out a pair. With the win, Burton improves to 3-1 on the year.

 

Lath Guyer was tabbed with the loss for the Bears (20-19, 5-8 A-Sun) surrendering four runs on four hits in an inning of work.

 

Scruggs was a single short of the cycle finishing the day with two home runs, a double, a triple and four runs driven in. Catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) and right fielder Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) also had good days offensively as Trent was 2-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI, while Green had three hits and brought in a run.

 

The Bear jumped out in front 3-0 in the top of the first on a RBI single by Jacob Tanis and a two-run single by Nick Dimauro.

 

Scruggs led off the bottom of the first as he crushed a solo home run over the fence in right to make the score 3-1.

 

In the second, Scruggs drove his second home run of the game over the fence in left for a two-run home run to even the game at 3-all.

 

Mercer went back in front 4-3 in the third as Michael Langley came in to score on a wild pitch.

 

Third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) answered for ETSU as he led off the bottom half of the third with a solo home run of his own to tie the game, 5-5. The Buccaneers grabbed their first lead of the game later in the inning as Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) came around to score on a single through the right side by sophomore Skyler Barnett (Johnson City, Tenn.) to make the score 5-4 ETSU.

 

After a scoreless fourth, the Bears went back in front scoring two runs on a Dimaro double and a Joe Winker single to take a 6-5 lead.

 

Mercer added three more runs in the sixth on three hits including a RBI double by Langley to increase its lead to 9-5.

 

The Bucs answered with five runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by a two-run double down the left field line by Doane to make the score 10-9 Buccaneers.

 

In the seventh, the Bears evened the game at 10-all as Evan Boyd came in to score on a single by Tyler McCarty.

 

ETSU continued the see-saw battle in the seventh scoring three runs on a triple by Scruggs and a two-run double by Trent to go in front 13-10.

 

Burton went on to shut down the Mercer offense throwing a scoreless eighth and ninth to close out the game.

 

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. as the Bucs and Bears will play a doubleheader to finish the series. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

 

ETSU 13, Mercer 10 (April 16, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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MU................. 301  023  100      -     10   13  1  (20-19, 5-8 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 122  005  30x   - 13   18     2   (20-13, 9-4 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Scott McNally (6); Bo Burton (7)

WC - Brandon Love; David Teasley (3); Lath Guyer (6); David Randall (7); J.T. Odom (7)

Win - Bo Burton (3-1) Loss - Lath Guyer (1-3)

HR - ETSU - Matthew Scruggs 2(8); Bo Reeder (9)