Tuesday, May 06, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (May 6, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team could not hold onto an early lead as they would fall to James Madison on Tuesday night at Cardinal Park, 8-4.

ETSU (18-32, 9-18) starter Josh Means (Kennesaw, Ga.) went 4.1 innings for the Bucs allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and struck out two while walking three. The Bucs were out hit by the Dukes 12-9 as Turner Phelps came in and threw seven scoreless innings for James Madison shutting down the ETSU offense.

The Bucs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) doubled to left center driving in Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) and Troy Mendez doubled off the right field wall driving in Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Allen.

In the bottom of the third, Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.) singled to center driving in Chris Rankhorn (Gallatin, Tenn.) to give the Bucs a 4-0 lead.

The Dukes answered in the top of the fourth as Chris Johnson homered over the right field fence to cut the ETSU lead to 4-1.

James Madison scored again in the top of the fifth on a Steven Caseres grounder to first with the bases loaded driving in a run to make the score 4-2 Bucs.

In the top of the seventh, Alex Foltz tripled to left center driving in a run to cut the ETSU lead to 4-3. Later in the inning Joe Lake singled in the tying run making the score 4-4.

The Bucs had a scoring chance as Rankhorn lined a ball to center in the bottom of the eighth with a runner on second, but Foltz made an outstanding play as he dove and caught the ball to double up Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) to end the inning.

The Dukes took the lead in the top of the eighth as Matt Browning doubled to left center scoring the runner from second to take a 5-4 lead. James Madison added another run on an ETSU error to make the score 6-4 JMU.

James Madison added to its lead in the top of the ninth as Brett Garner singled through the left side driving in a couple runs to give the Dukes an 8-4 lead.

ETSU loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth on three hits but were unable to tie the game up as they would fall by the final of 8-4.

Mendez led the Bucs with two hits and two RBI as he was the only ETSU player with multiple hits.

The Bucs head to Fort Myers, Fla. this weekend for an important three-game series with Florida Gulf Coast

James Madison 8, ETSU 4 (May 6, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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JMU............000  110  222   - 8  12  0   (31-13, 18-5 CAA)

ETSU..........031  000  000  -  4  9   2   (18-32, 9-18 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Josh Means; Matt McGahey (5); Darren Caldwell (8); Brandon Langston
JMU - Alex Valadja; Turner Phelps (3)

Win - Turner Phelps (5-0) Loss - Matt McGahey (1-4)

HR - JMU - Chris Johnson (1)