Thursday, May 27, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 27, 2010) - Mercer rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to defeat the ETSU baseball team 10-7 on day two of the Atlantic Sun baseball tournament Thursday night at Dugan Field on the campus of Lipscomb in Nashville, Tenn.

Freshman Scott McNally (Marietta, Ga.) was outstanding in relief for the Bucs (31-27, 15-12 A-Sun) after the Bears chased starter Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) in the third inning. McNally threw 5.0 innings limiting Mercer to two runs on six hits with three strikes despite suffering his second loss of the year.

Closer J.T. Odom for Mercer earned the win throwing 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. The Bucs chased MU starter Justice French in the third after he gave up three runs on six hits in 2.2 innings.

Offensively, junior Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) had a career day going 5-for-5 with his first ever home run in an ETSU uniform. The local native was a triple short of the cycle, and drove in two runs. ETSU had eight of the nine starters hit safely in the game.

The Bears went in front 1-0 in the top of the first as Jacob Tanis singled in Billy Burns from third.

After a lead off double by centerfielder Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and a sac bunt by Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.), junior Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) drove in Scruggs from third on a grounder to short to tie the game at 1-all.

Mercer went back in front in the second scoring two runs on Evan Boyd sacrifice fly and a RBI triple by Burns to take a 3-1 lead.

In the top of the third, the Bears added three runs on four hits including a two-run home run Joe Winker to take a 6-1 advantage.

ETSU cut into the MU lead in the bottom of the third scoring two runs on RBI singles by Green and Hoilman to make the score 6-3.

Byrne brought the score to 6-4 in the fourth as he crushed his first career home run over the left field fence.

The Bucs cut the lead to 6-5 in the fifth on a RBI single by Byrne scoring catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) from second.

Trent put the Buccaneers ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth as he doubled to left center scoring Green and Hoilman.

The Bears tied the game at 7-all in the eighth on a RBI single by Tyler McCarty. Mercer then took the lead on a RBI double to right center by Thomas Carroll. Langley added an insurance run in the next at bat as he singled in a run to make the score 9-7 MU.

In the top of the ninth, John Moreland drove a solo home run over the right field fence to extend the Bears lead to 10-7.

ETSU saw the first two batters reach in the bottom of the ninth, but Odom got and infield fly, strikeout and ground out to end the Buccaneer threat.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at noon as they face top seeded Florida Gulf Coast in an elimination game. For more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

#2 Mercer 10, #3 ETSU 7 (May 27, 2010 at Nashville, Tenn.)
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MU................. 123  000  031  - 10   17     1       (35-22, 16-11 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 102  112  000  -  7    17     0       (31-27, 15-12 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Reeder; Scott McNally (3); Chas Byrne (8)

MU - Justice French; David Teasley (3); David Randall (6); J.T. Odom (7)

Win - J.T. Odom (2-2) Loss - Scott McNally (5-2)             

HR - ETSU - Chas Byrne (1)

MU - Joe Winker (9); John Moreland (21)