JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 18, 2024) – The ETSU baseball team finished off a season-opening sweep of Lafayette with a 13-1 win on Sunday at Thomas Stadium. Sunday's victory improves ETSU's record to 3-0 on the season.
It was another productive day for ETSU's offense as it totaled 13 hits and worked 10 walks. Eight of the nine Bucs that started the game notched a hit and all nine reached base at least once.
Noah Gent was one of four Bucs to have two hits on Sunday to go along with three RBI.
JD Yakubinis,
Cooper Torres and
Jamie Palmese also totaled a pair of hits in the series finale.
ETSU used five pitchers on Sunday with three making their debut with the Blue and Gold. Newcomer
Brian Crooms got the start and allowed one run on one hit, four walks to go with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Fellow newcomer
Carter Fink picked up the win after tossing 3.1 no-hit innings and striking out five.
Nathan Hickman,
Kenny Keller and
Owen Kovacs also threw scoreless frames out of the Buccaneer bullpen. For the weekend, ETSU held the Leopards to a .188 batting average and totaled 43 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched.
After Crooms struck out the side in the top of the first, the Buccaneer offense gave the pitching staff all the run support they would need on the day scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first. ETSU worked four walks and totaled five hits in the first. With the Bucs working deep counts and making solid contact, Lafayette used three pitchers in the opening inning. Yakubinis, Gent, Palmese,
Nick Iannantone and Torres all had run-producing hits in the seven-run first inning.
Yakubinis would make it 8-0 ETSU with an RBI double in the second to score
Ashton King. Lafayette's lone run came in the third on a sacrifice fly. The Buccaneers added more insurance with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Even though it did not score in some innings, ETSU had at least one hitter reach base in all but one inning on Sunday.
ETSU's pitchers kept the Leopard offense in check as it did not allow Lafayette's second hit until the seventh inning. The trio of Hickman, Keller and Kovacs wrapped up the sweep for the Bucs with three scoreless innings that saw four Lafayette strikeouts.
ETSU will play on the road for the first time this season when it visits nationally-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday. First pitch between the Buccaneers and Volunteers is set for 4:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
