Friday, April 07, 2006

(April 7, 2006) - The ETSU offense pounced on Kennesaw State's pitching for seven fourth inning runs, and junior lefty Ryan Howe (Spartanburg, S.C.) delivered a strong outing as the Bucs held off a late Owl rally to post a 9-5 Atlantic Sun Conference victory Friday evening at Stillwell Stadium.

After three innings of scoreless baseball, the Bucs loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth.  Junior catcher Justin Aughey (Davie, Fla.) drove in senior first baseman Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.) with a single to left field for a 1-0 lead.  Following a 5-2-3 double play, senior Josiah Galfenhein (Knoxville, Tenn.) reached on a throwing error by shortstop Jacob Robbins, bringing in two more Buc runs.  Senior Matt Traylor (Knoxville, Tenn.) followed with a massive home run to right center field, giving the Bucs a 5-0 lead.  Senior Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) reached on another Robbins throwing error, and Kennesaw native Stephen Douglas made the Owls pay with his fifth homer of the season, a missile over the right field fence to cap the scoring in the inning.

The Owls scored four runs in the seventh to cut the Buccaneer lead to 8-5, but junior righty Caleb Glafenhein (Knoxville, Tenn.) entered the game, snuffing the rally and preserving the ETSU advantage.

The Bucs added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, and senior Steven Calicutt (Spartanburg, S.C.) came on with runners on the corners and nobody out in the ninth and sat down all three batters he faced for his sixth save of the season.

Howe pitched six plus innings for the Bucs, scattering three runs and seven hits and striking out five for his third win of the season.  Matt Eckardt, making his second start of the season for the Owls gave up five runs, only one earned in 3 2/3 innings, falling to 0-1.

Douglas and Traylor each finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored.

The two teams conclude the series with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon starting at 1 p.m.