Friday, April 02, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 2, 2010) - North Florida pounded a school record ten doubles as the ETSU baseball team dropped the series opener to the Ospreys 13-5 Friday night at Cardinal Park.

Junior Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) was tabbed with the loss for the Bucs (16-8, 5-2 A-Sun) giving up eight runs on 11 hits while striking out a career-high ten batters.

George Lott picked up the win for UNF (15-13, 5-2 A-Sun) going 6.2 innings limiting the Bucs to five runs (four earned) on eight hits with a career-high eight strikeouts. Catcher David Eldredge had a school record four doubles for North Florida.

Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) were the only Bucs with multiple hits in the game, while Garrett May (Marietta, Ga.) hit his fourth home run of the season and had two RBI.

The Ospreys grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first Michael Smith came in to score on a Byrne wild pitch.

Third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) tied the game at 1-all in the bottom half as Scruggs came around to score on a Reeder check swing hit to first.

UNF regained the lead in the top of the second scoring four runs on five hits highlighted by a two-run double by Steve Hillian to take a 5-1 lead.

Right fielder Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) laced a double to left with one out in the third. Green then came around to score on a Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) doubled to right center scoring to cut the UNF lead to 5-2.

North Florida extended its lead to 8-2 in the fifth scoring three runs on three hits.

In the sixth, the Ospreys jumped out to a 11-2 lead scoring three runs on four hits including a two-run double by Thompson.

ETSU cut the UNF lead to 11-5 in the seventh. After freshman Michael Gonzalez (Jupiter, Fla.) was hit by a pitch, May roped a two-run shot to left. In the next at bat, Scruggs tripled to center, and then came in to score on a ball hit to second by Green.

The Ospreys put the game out of reach in the ninth as Preston Hale and Andrew Karmeris hit back-to-back solo home runs to make the final 13-5.

The Bucs and Ospreys are back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. as they close out the series with a doubleheader at Cardinal Park. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

UNF 13, ETSU 5 (April 2, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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UNF............... 140  033  002      -     11   20  2  (15-13, 5-2 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 101  000  300   -  5      9      0   (16-8, 5-2 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Scott McNally (6); Joseph Timp (7); Derek Bushey (9)

UNF - George Lott; Casey Medlen (7)

Win - George Lott (4-0) Loss - Chas Byrne (3-4)

HR - ETSU - Garrett May (4)

UNF - Preston Hale (5); Andrew Karmeris (4)