Wednesday, May 16, 2012

KENNESAW, Ga. (May 16, 2012) – After closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule on Tuesday at Georgia, the ETSU baseball will close out the 2012 season with a three-game series at Kennesaw State beginning on Thursday.

First pitch on both Thursday and Friday will be at 6:00 p.m. while Saturday's series finale will be a 1:00 p.m. first pitch. Each game can be heard live on 640-WXSM and online at ETSUBucs.com.

ETSU freshman righty Jimmy Nesselt (Plantation, Fla.) (3-4, 4.01 ERA) will earn his second straight weekend start and will pitch the opener on Thursday night against Kennesaw State righty Josh Carr (8-2, 3.87 ERA).

Sophomore right-hander Jake Long (Anderson, S.C.) (2-8, 4.17 ERA) will get the start on Friday and will oppose KSU southpaw Kevin Kyle (1-4, 3.73 ERA).

Saturday’s regular season finale will pit ETSU senior righty John Long (Anderson, S.C.) (6-6, 3.71 ERA) against Kennesaw State righty Travis Dean (3-0, 6.91 ERA).

Clinging to a one-run lead through five innings, Georgia (30-22) pushed across three runs in the sixth to down ETSU, 7-4, in the final non-conference game for both teams at Foley Field on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs pounded out 13 hits led by a three hit effort from catcher Brett DeLoach. DeLoach also scored a run and recorded a RBI on the night. Kyle Farmer was 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Peter Verdin was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

ETSU (22-30) was paced by seniors Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Cory Betterson (Atlanta, Ga.). Scruggs finished 3-for-4 with his 19^th home run of the season, while Betterson was 2-for-4 with his first career home run and a pair of RBI. Meanwhile, another Georgia native, Zach Waters (Woodstock, Ga.) went 1-for-3 with a RBI double. Scruggs continues to lead the nation in home runs.

Kennesaw State comes into the weekend with a 29-22 overall record and a 13-10 league mark. The Owls are hitting.293 as a team, while they also own a solid 4.09 ERA on the mound. Catcher Ronnie Freeman paces the squad with a .348 average with six home runs and 50 RBI. Meanwhile, Aaron Dobbs and Andy Chriscaden are each batting over .340, while Chriscaden leads the squad with 12 homers.

Kennesaw State leads the all-time series against ETSU, 10-8. ETSU took the series from Kennesaw State last season, but the Owls earned series victories in the previous three years.

For more information on ETSU baseball, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball link.