Saturday, April 17, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 17, 2010) - The ETSU baseball team had a rough outing Saturday afternoon as the Bucs dropped both games of a doubleheader to Mercer 11-6 and 11-5 at Cardinal Park.

Sophomore Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) suffered the loss for the Bucs (20-15, 9-6 A-Sun) in game one allowing seven runs on 12 hits in 5.0 innings. Junior Ben Booker (Knoxville, Tenn.) had a good start for ETSU in game two going 7.0 innings limiting Mercer to three runs on six hits in a no decision.

Reliever Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) was tabbed for the loss in game two as he was touched up for eight runs on six hits in 0.2 innings of work.

Freshman Matt McCall earned the victory for the Bears (22-19, 7-8 A-Sun) in the first game throwing 8.1 innings giving up six runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts, while reliever J.T. Odom picked up the win in game two with 4.0 scoreless innings of relief.

On the day, catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) led the Buccaneers offensively going 5-for-8 with three RBI. Freshman Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) had a team-best three hits in the first game.

Game One Recap:

Mercer got on the board first as Thomas Carroll drove in Billy Burns on a sacrifice fly to center to take a 1-0 lead.

In the second, catcher Nick Dimauro homered to left to increase the Bears lead to 2-0.

ETSU answered in the bottom half of the inning, as the Bucs strung together three two-out hits to tie the game at 2-all. After a Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) double, junior Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) singled to right scoring Doane. Byrne then came around to score on a single by second baseman Derek Niesman (Wellington, Fla.).

The Bucs extended their lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the third. Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) led off the inning with a single to center and then moved to third on a double to left by Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.). Scruggs came in to score on a ball hit to second by Trent.

Mercer tied the game in the fourth on ball hit to short by Evan Boyd to make the score 3-3.

The Bears jumped out in front 7-3 in the fifth scoring four runs on four hits including a two-run double by Dimauro and a two-run home run by Joe Winker.

ETSU got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on RBI single by Trent scoring Jamie Crawford (Kingsport, Tenn.) to cut the MU lead to 7-4.

Carroll put the game out of reach in the sixth as he drove a three-run homer over the fence in right to increase the Mercer lead to 10-4.

In the ninth, the Bears added a run as Winker came in to score on a sac fly to center by Burns to make the score 11-4.

The Bucs made a little noise in the ninth after loading the bases as they scratched across two runs on a Hoilman sac fly and a Reeder walk to cut the Mercer lead to 11-6. MU reliever David Teasley got Doane to fly out to center with the bases loaded to end the contest.

Game Two Recap:

The Bears grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI single by Tyler McCarty.

ETSU evened the contest at 1-1 in the second as Scruggs singled in Michael Gonzalez (Jupiter, Fla.).

Mercer continued the see-saw theme of the weekend going back in front 2-1 on a solo home run to right by Winker in the fourth.

The Buccaneers tied the game for the second time in the fifth as Trent singled in Green to make the score 2-2.

In the sixth, ETSU went ahead 5-2 after two run home run by Reeder and a sac fly by Scruggs.

Burns cut the Buccaneer lead to 5-3 in the seventh as he sent a solo home run over the right field fence.

The Bears exploded for eight runs on seven hits in the eighth including home runs by Travis Benn, John Moreland and Jacob Tanis to take a commanding 11-5 lead.

The Bucs are back in action Tuesday at 3 p.m. as they head to McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C. to take on UNC Asheville. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

Game 1: Mercer 11, ETSU 6 (April 17, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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MU................. 110  143  001      -     11   20  0  (21-19, 6-8 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 021  010  002      -      6    13  2  (20-14, 9-5 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Reeder; Derek Bushey (6); Pete Whittingslow (6); Drew Story (8); Garret May (9)

MU - Matt McCall; David Randall (9); David Teasley (9)

Win - Matt McCall (3-2) Loss - Bo Reeder (2-3)

HR - MU - Nick Dimauro (2); Joe Winker (4); Thomas Carroll (6)

Game 2: Mercer 11, ETSU 5 (April 17, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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MU................. 100  100  180      -     11   14  0  (22-19, 7-8 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 010  013  000      -      5      9   0  (20-15, 9-6 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Ben Booker, Bo Burton (8); Scott McNally (8)

MU - Justin French; J.T. Odom (6)

Win - J.T. Odom (1-2) Loss - Bo Burton (3-2)

HR - ETSU - Bo Reeder (9)

MU - Joe Winker (5); Billy Burns (2); Travis Benn (5) John Moreland (13); Jacob Tanis (18)