JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 21, 2009) - The ETSU baseball team came back in the ninth to defeat Evansville after a late rally by the Purple Aces Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Park, 9-8.

"I thought our guys showed a lot of heart today," said head coach Tony Skole. "We really had to battle, and we got a bunch of big, timely hits from many different guys throughout our lineup."

Freshman lefty Josh Gonzaga (Davie, Fla.) pitched well for the Bucs (2-0) as he threw four scoreless innings, giving up five runs on seven hits while striking out four.

"I thought our young kids really shined this afternoon," Skole added. "Josh gave us a really good start in his first college appearance, and we played some really good defense."

Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) put the Bucs up 1-0 in the bottom of the first as he hit a towering shot over the right field fence for his first home run of the season.

The Purples Aces then tied the game in the top of the third as Jim Viscomi stole home on a Gonzaga pick attempt to first. Evansville added four more runs in the inning on a three-run home run by Cody Fick and a solo shot by Greg Wallace to take a 5-1 lead.

The Bucs cut into the Purple Aces lead in the bottom of the third as Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) doubled to left driving in Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) to make the score 5-2.

Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) continued the ETSU comeback in the bottom of the fourth as he blasted a solo home run over the fence in left center to cut the Evansville lead to two runs, 5-3.

In the top of the sixth, the Purple Aces answered as Alex Acheson tripled in a run to extend the Evansville lead to 6-3.

ETSU answered in the bottom of the sixth as Allen pulled the Bucs within a run on a two-run home run that stayed just fair down the right field line to make the score 6-5 Purple Aces.

Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) tied things up at 6-all in the bottom of the seventh as he hit a solo home run over the left field fence. ETSU took the lead later in the inning as Garrett May (Roswell, Ga.) singled through the left side to score Hoilman to make the score 7-6.

Evansville tied the game 7-7 in the top of the ninth on an Andy Smith grounder to short. The Purple Aces took the lead in the next at bat as Andy Pascoe singled up the middle to drive in a run and take a 8-7 lead.

The Bucs came back in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score after a Trent grounder to second to bring in Hoilman, 8-8. Then later in the inning with the bases loaded Scruggs drew a walk from Fick to bring in the winning run to end the game, 9-8.

ETSU was led offensively by Scruggs and Hoilman, as Scruggs went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Hoilman was also 2-for-3, scored three runs and had an RBI. Dustin Plumlee (Powell, Tenn.) picked up the win for the Bucs.

The Bucs close out the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. as they will look to sweep Evansville at home.

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

ETSU 9, Evansville 8 (Feb. 21, 2009 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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UE…...........005  001  002   -  8  11  1  (0-1)

ETSU..........101  102  202   -  9  14  1  (1-0)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Josh Gonzaga; Taylor Gouffon (6); Darren Caldwell (8); Dustin Plumlee (9)
UE - Zach Taylor; Keegan Dennis (6); Corey Davisson (7); Cody Fick (8)

Win - Dustin Plumlee (1-0) Loss - Cody Fick (0-1)   

HR - ETSU - Paul Hoilman (1); Derek Trent (1); Ben Allen (1); Bo Reeder (1)

UE - Cody Fick (2); Greg Wallace (1)