Friday, April 24, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 24, 2009) - The ETSU baseball team got another stellar performance from starter Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) as the Bucs defeated High Point 14-8 Friday night at Cardinal Park.

With the win the Bucs extend thier current win streak to seven games as they improve to 21-19 on the year and 9-12 in conference. High Point drops to 17-21 overall.

Byrne picked up his fifth win of the season going 7.1 innings allowing only two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts. R.J. Chlebnikow was tabbed with the loss going 5.1 innings allowing 12 runs (eight earned) on nine hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

The Bucs were led offensively by third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) and left fielder Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) as Reeder was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, scored four runs and drove in three, while Mendez was 2-for-3 with a double, scored three and had three RBI.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as shortstop Alfie Wheeler homered over the fence in right.

ETSU answered in the bottom of the first as first baseman Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) doubled off of the top of the wall in center to score Mendez from first to tie the game at 1-all. The Bucs added two more runs in the inning on a two-run home run to right by the designated hitter Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) to take a 3-1 lead.

Centerfielder Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) added another run in the bottom of the second driving in right fielder Cory Betterson (Atlanta, Ga.) on a sac fly to right to extend the ETSU lead to 4-1.

High Point cut into the Buccaneer lead in the top of the third as the centerfielder Bill Manion singled in a run to make the score 4-2.

In the bottom of the third, Reeder went deep for the 13^th time on the year as he crushed a solo shot over the wall in right to put ETSU up 5-2. The home run puts Reeder only two shy of the freshman home run record set by Trent last year.

The Bucs scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth on a sac fly to left by Fabry, a two-run double to right by Reeder and an RBI single up the middle by Mendez to increase the Bucs lead to 9-2.

ETSU added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI double by Mendez and a two-run single by Trent to bring the score to 12-2.

Mendez drove in his third run of the game in the bottom of the eighth on a sac fly to left to make the score 13-2. Hoilman added another run later in the inning on a double down the left field line to give the Bucs a 14-2 advantage.

The Panthers scored six runs in the top of the ninth on three hits and an error by shortstop Garrett May (Roswell, Ga.) to make the final 14-8.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. as they take on High Point in game two at Cardinal Park. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

ETSU 14, High Point 8 (April 24, 2009 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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HPU.............. 101  000  006   -  8    10     1   (17-21, 9-9 Big South)

ETSU............ 311  403  02x    - 14   13     1   (21-19, 9-12 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Dustin Plumlee (8)

HPU - R.J. Chlebnikow; Mike Caldwell (6); Murray White (9)

Win - Chas Byrne (5-2) Loss - R.J. Chlebnikow (2-4)

Home Runs - ETSU - Derek Trent (4); Bo Reeder (13)

HPU - Alfie Wheeler (1); Bill Manion (3)