GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 27, 2024) – The ETSU baseball team will continue its road swing through North Carolina this week with a three-game series at UNC Greensboro. The series is scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday. Thursday's and Friday's games are slated for 6 p.m. start times, while Saturday's is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Probable Pitching Matchups
RHP Jace Hyde (ETSU) vs. RHP Julien Peissel (UNCG) – Thursday @ 6 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
RHP Andrew Ronne (ETSU) vs. RHP Rob Ready (UNCG) – Friday @ 6 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
RHP Michael Harpster (ETSU) vs. RHP Jay Miller (UNCG) – Saturday @ 2 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
Last Time Out – The Bucs took two of three games over the weekend at Western Carolina. WCU won the opener by a score of 8-4 on Friday before the Bucs rebounded with a 12-3 victory on Saturday and a 9-8 win in 12 innings on Sunday. With those results, ETSU is 16-7 overall and 2-1 in SoCon play.
Stellar against SoCon teams – By winning the series against the Catamounts last weekend, the Buccaneers have won five consecutive conference series dating back to last season. It marks the first time since the Bucs rejoined the SoCon in 2015 that the team has won five consecutive series within league play.
Nod to Nick – A big part in ETSU's offense all season long has been
Nick Iannantone. Iannantone, who has been ETSU's leadoff batter and designated hitter in every game so far this season, hit .563 last week with five runs scored, four RBI and five walks. Iannantone enters this weekend's series 14
th in the nation in on-base percentage (.550) and ranks third in the SoCon with a .420 batting average. Iannantone also leads ETSU with 11 multi-hit games in 2024.
ETSU tough to strike out – Entering the second series of conference play, ETSU has the three hardest hitters in the SoCon to strikeout.
Cameron Sisneros leads the way with a strikeout every 20.8 at-bats, which ranks sixth nationally. Fellow Bucs
Tommy Barth (11.7) and Iannantone (11.6) sit behind Sisneros in that category among SoCon players.
Progress on the Mound – The ETSU pitching staff has improved numbers in multiple statistical categories this spring. ETSU has increased its strikeouts per nine innings (8.4 to 9.5), while lowering its hits allowed per nine innings (10.09 to 8.65) and batting average against (.284 to .250). Thursday night's starter Hyde is third in the SoCon in strikeouts with 35, while Ronne, who is coming off a career-high seven innings pitched in his last start, ranks second in victories (4) and third in WHIP (1.08) among SoCon pitchers this season.
Streaking Stats – Entering the series in Greensboro, a few Bucs have some notable streaks to keep track of.
Cody Miller has a 13-game hitting streak along with an 18-game reached base streak. Sisneros (23 games),
Tommy Barth (16 games) and
Noah Gent (11 games) also have reached base streaks of 10 games or more entering the final weekend of March.
About UNC Greensboro – UNC Greensboro enters the series with the Bucs with an overall record of 13-10 that includes a 2-1 mark in SoCon play after winning two of three against Mercer last weekend. UNCG has won a pair of games against nationally-ranked opponents this spring against No. 12 Wake Forest and No. 22 NC State. A player to watch for the Spartans is Caleb Cozart as he ranks second in the conference with 11 home runs.
Series History vs. UNC Greensboro – ETSU and UNCG have matched up a total of 60 times over the years. The Spartans have won 38 of the all-time 60 all-time matchups. However, the Bucs took two of three games from UNCG when the two teams clashed in Johnson City last May. Furthermore, ETSU will be looking for its first series win in Greensboro since 2021.
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