Friday, March 10, 2006

Nashville, Tenn. (March 10, 2006) - Junior catcher Justin Aughey (Davie, Fla.) crushed his third home run of the season, a ninth inning, two-out pitch from Lipscomb closer Josh Smith to dead center field, lifting ETSU to an 8-6 conference opening victory over the Lipscomb Bisons Friday night.

Smith sat down the first two Buccaneers of the inning with two quick strikeouts, but surrendered a two-out walk to senior Chuck Hargis (Powell, Tenn.).  Aughey then drove Smith's 2-1 offering to center, breaking the 6-6 tie, and salvaging a game that the Bucs controlled until the late innings.

After a leadoff triple by shortstop Tadd Brewer, junior starter Ryan Howe (Spartanburg, S.C.) pitched out of a first inning jam, mowing down the next three Bison batters. The frame ended with an unorthodox foul out from Zac Miller.  On a full count, catcher Zac Miller popped into foul territory in front of the ETSU dugout.  The ball tipped off of Aughey's glove, and senior first baseman Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.) corralled it in the crook of his arm, stranding Brewer at third.

The Bucs (10-7, 1-0) carried the momentum into the second inning, hammering Bison starter Paul Piennette for four hits and pushing three runs across the plate for a 3-0 lead.  Junior C.J. Lee (Bristol, Va.) led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a Hargis double. Lee came home on an Aughey ground out, and Hargis scored on Church's second double of the season.  Senior Josiah Glafenhein (Knoxville, Tenn.) drove in the third run of the inning and extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single to right.

Trailing 4-1 in the seventh, the Bisons (6-7, 0-1) put together a rally aided by two Buccaneer errors, and pushed across four runs (three unearned), taking a 5-4 lead.  Preston Embrey started the comeback with a one-out triple, and scored on center fielder Nathan Sensing's two-out RBI single.  The tying runs scored when Lee couldn't handle a fly ball off Miller's bat.  Miller scored from second one batter later on Caleb Joseph's infield single.

Senior Steven Calicutt (Spartanburg, S.C.) picked up the win in relief, striking out the side in the ninth inning to improve to 2-1.  Smith absorbed the loss, falling to 1-2.

The two schools renew the series Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. eastern time.