Tuesday, April 29, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 29, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team defeated North Carolina Central Tuesday night at Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn., 13-1.

ETSU (14-31, 9-18) got yet another good start from junior Ty Sarchet (Honolulu, Hawaii) as he picked up his third win of the season pitching four scoreless innings allowing only two hits and stuck out four batters. The Bucs out-hit NCCU 14-5, but did leave 14 runners stranded.

The Bucs got on the board in the bottom of the second as Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) singled up the middle scoring Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead.

Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.) teed off on a ball driving it way over the right field fence for his 17^th home run of the season to make the score 2-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, with the bases loaded Russell walked bring in Bubba Herbold (Knoxville, Tenn.) to give the Bucs a 3-0 lead. In the next at bat Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) hit his first career grand slam as he crushed a ball over the fence in right center to make the score 7-0.

The Bucs scored two more in the bottom of the fifth on a Russell hard shot that found its way through the left side scoring Byrne and Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) to give the Bucs a 9-0 lead.

NCCU got on the board in the top of the sixth on a grounder to short by Brian Brice to cut the ETSU lead to 9-1.

The Bucs scored three more in the bottom of the seventh on a Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) double to left scoring Russell and a NCCU error to make the score 12-1.

Russell added to his home run total in the bottom of the eighth as he blasted another ball over the right field fence to tie him for second in the nation with South Carolina's Justin Smoak.

Darren Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Jimmy Tidwell (Acworth, Ga.) pitched well in relief for the Bucs as they combined to throw three shutout innings allowing no hits and striking out three.

Byrne was a perfect 4-for-4 for the Bucs, while Russell was 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow as they host North Carolina Central at 7 p.m.

ETSU 13, NC Central 1 (April 29, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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NCCU.........000  001  000   -  1    5    2  (6-29)

ETSU..........011  520  31x   -  13  14  3   (14-31, 9-18 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Ty Sarchet; Bo Burton (5); Darren Caldwell (7); Jimmy Tidwell (8)
NCCU - Douglas Dalley; Jordan James (5); Gene Suarez (7)

Win - Ty Sarchet (3-5) Loss - Douglas Dalley (2-3)

HR - ETSU - Anthony Russell 2(18); Paul Hoilman (8)