Tuesday, March 18, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 18, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team fell to Radford Tuesday night at Cardinal Park as the Bucs could not hold on to an early lead losing by a final of 13-8.

ETSU (2-15, 2-7) was out hit by the Highlanders 17-13 in a game that had a combined four home runs, six doubles and a triple.

In the bottom of the first inning the Bucs would jump out to an early 3-0 lead on back to back RBI doubles by Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) and an RBI single by Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.).

In the top of the third Radford would take the lead scoring four runs in the inning off of a lead off home run by Tyren Williams, a two RBI single by Reggie Keen and Raphael Turner scored on a wild pitch. The Highlanders would make the score 5-3 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Mario Duarte.

ETSU would cut the lead down to one in the bottom of the fifth as senior Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.) teed off on a Mark Beppler pitch and drove it way over the fence in left center, but Radford would score two more on a Duarte RBI single in the top of the sixth to make the score 7-4.

The Bucs added another run in the seventh on a Mendez solo shot to right center, but again the Highlanders would answer the Bucs with four runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth to take a 13-5 lead. ETSU would make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth as the Bucs would score three runs on a grounder to short by Mendez and a two run home run by Petro.

Mendez and Petro each had three RBI in the game as Petro went 4-for-5 in the game and the Bucs had five players with multiple hits in the game.

The Bucs are back in action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Jacksonville, Fla. as they will take on conference opponent Jacksonville in a three game series.

Radford 13, ETSU 8 (March 18, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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RU.................004  102  042   -  13  17  1   (9-8, 0-0 Big South)

ETSU............ 300  010  103   -  8   13  0   (2-15, 2-7 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Burton; Matt McGahey (3); Dustin Plumlee (6); Jimmy Tidwell (8); Chas Byrne (9)
RU - Mark Beppler; Eric Evans (6); Abram Williams )7); Josh Hammonds(7)

Win - Mark Beppler (1-0) Loss -  Bo Burton (0-3) Save - Josh Hammonds (1)

HR - ETSU - Anthony Russell (4); Troy Mendez (2); Danny Petro (1)

RU - Tyren Williams (1)