Wednesday, March 05, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 5, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team dropped two close games to Austin Peay Wednesday at Cardinal Park as the Governors came from behind to win game one, 6-5, in ten innings, and would hold on to win the second game, 9-7.

ETSU (1-8, 1-2) received great pitching performances by Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Matt McGahey (Jonesborough, Tenn.). Burton pitched six strong innings giving up only two runs on three hits while striking out six and walking five in game one. McGahey was solid in the second game going a little less than six innings keeping the Bucs in the game allowing only one run on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

In the first game, ETSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) and a grounder to second by Nick Belcher (Abingdon, Va.).

Austin Peay would scratch into the Buc lead in the top of the second on Greg Bachman RBI double, but the Bucs would answer in the third on a Ryan Self (Mount Juliet, Tenn.) two run blast to right center with to make the score 4-1. The Governors would again score in the fourth on Will Hogue RBI single to cut the Buc lead to two runs.

The Bucs would hold the 4-2 lead till the top of the ninth as Austin Peay would rally to score three runs on a grounder by J.B. Gilbert and hits by Chad Cunningham and Rafael Hill to take a 5-4 lead. ETSU would even things up in the bottom of the ninth on a Chas Byrne RBI single to left field driving in Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.)

The Governors would regain the lead in the top of the tenth on a grounder by Ryan Gilboy to make the final 6-5.

In game two, after the Bucs took an early 1-0 lead on a Self double in the first inning. Austin Peay would score four runs in the second on a two-run double by Bachman and a two-run home run by Josh Purcell, and five runs in the third on hits by Bachman, Gilbert, Hill and Tyler Farrar to take a 9-1 lead.

The Bucs would score three runs in the bottom of the third on a solo home run by Derek Trent, an RBI single by Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) scored on a wild pitch to cut the score to 9-4. ETSU would make the score 9-5 in the seventh as Derek Trent homered for the second time in the game as it was a no doubter off of the bat, and in the eighth Allen would cut the Governor lead to two runs on a two run blast to left making the final 9-7 as the Bucs would come up empty in the ninth.

Allen was three-for-eight on the day with three RBI, while Self was four-for-nine with four RBI. The Bucs return to action on Friday at 4 p.m. as they will travel to Buies Creek, N.C. for a three game conference series versus Campbell.

Game 1: Austin Peay 6, ETSU 5 (10) (March 5, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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APSU.............010  100 003  1  -  6  11  3     (4-3, 0-0 OVC)
ETSU............ 202  000  001  0  -  5  7  0      (1-7, 1-2 A-Sun)
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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Burton; Jimmy Tidwell (7); Ben Andrews (8); Dustin Plumlee (9); Darren Caldwell (10)
AU - Ryne Harper; David Vicini (7); Matt Kole (8); Daniel Tenholder (9)
Win - Daniel Tenholder (1-0) Loss -  Dustin Plumlee (0-1)

HR: ETSU -   Ryan Self (1)

Game 2: Austin Peay 9, ETSU 7 (March 5, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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APSU.............045  000  000  -  9 13 0     (5-3, 0-0 OVC)
ETSU............ 103  000  120  -  7  9  1     (1-8, 1-2 A-Sun)
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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Matt McGahey (3); Jimmy Tidwell (9)
AU - Jake Brisbin; Steve Huff (7)
Win - Jake Brisbin (1-0) Loss -  Chas Byrne (0-1)

HR: ETSU -   Derek Trent 2 (3), Ben Allen (1)

APSU - Josh Purcell (1)