CULLOWHEE, N.C. (March 24, 2024) – The ETSU baseball team withstood multiple late rallies from Western Carolina and came away with a 9-8 win in 12 innings over the Catamounts on Sunday afternoon. With Sunday's victory, the Buccaneers improve to 16-7 overall and 2-1 in SoCon play. Furthermore, by taking two out of three this weekend at Western Carolina, ETSU has now won five consecutive conference series dating back to last season.
The trio of
Nick Iannantone,
Cody Miller, and
Ashton King all had two-hit games for the Bucs on Sunday. Iannantone also worked three walks to reach base five times on the day. Miller and
JD Yakubinis both drove in a pair of runs, while the duo of
Tommy Barth and
Jamie Palmese both slugged home runs for ETSU.
The Bucs did not waste much time in scoring the first runs on Sunday. Following a walk by Iannantone, Barth launched a home run over the right field wall for his second long ball in as many days to give ETSU an early 2-0 lead. The Bucs were not done, however, as
Noah Webb and King both tallied RBI singles to grow ETSU's advantage to four runs before Western Carolina took its first swings of the contest.
With a 4-0 lead to work with,
Michael Harpster pitched well for ETSU. After allowing a leadoff home run to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the first, Harpster retired 13 Catamounts in a row. With the score being 4-1, the Bucs tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the fourth to make it 6-1 ETSU.
Western Carolina cut the Buccaneer lead to three with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Harpster, who set a new career-high with six strikeouts on Sunday, was then relieved by
Carter Fink starting the sixth. Fink allowed a run in the seventh to make it a two-run game. A RBI double by Miller in the ninth, however, pushed the Buccaneer lead back to three. However, the Catamounts would score three runs in the bottom of the ninth off multiple ETSU relievers to force the game into extra innings. Sunday marked the first extra inning game between ETSU and Western Carolina since 1999.
The extra innings had a few more momentum swings in store for these two teams. Palmese slammed a home run, his second of the season, to give ETSU the lead back at 8-7 in the top of the tenth. However, WCU got that run back in the bottom of the half on a sacrifice fly to keep the game alive for the Catamounts.
Following a scoreless eleventh inning, Yakubinis drove in the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the twelfth. With another lead to protect,
Owen Kovacs kept the Catamounts scoreless to preserve the win for ETSU. Kovacs threw three shutout innings on Sunday and picked up his second career win.
ETSU will return to action on Thursday when it begins a three-game road series at UNC Greensboro. The series opener between the Bucs and Spartans is set for 6 p.m.
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