OXFORD, Ohio (May 17, 2024) – After trailing 4-2 early, Miami (OH) rallied to knock off the ETSU baseball team by a score of 7-6 on Friday afternoon in non-conference action. The victory by the Redhawks evens the series at a game apiece and moves ETSU's record to 33-18 on the season.
ETSU had several players have stellar offensive days on Friday. Overall, five different Bucs had multi-hit efforts, with two having three-hit outings. The duo of
Cody Miller (3-for-5) and
Blake Jacklin (3-for-4) both tallied a trio of hits, while
Nick Iannantone (2-for-4),
JD Yakubinis (2-for-5) and
Jamie Palmese (2-for-5) chipped in two hits each in the contest.
On the mound, the Bucs used three pitchers on Friday.
Jace Hyde started the game for ETSU and worked the first three innings. Hyde allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits to go with three strikeouts on the day.
Andrew Ronne allowed three runs on four hits in his lone inning of work and was saddled with the loss.
Landon Crumbley pitched most of the game for the Bucs and fared well allowing three hits and no earned runs in four innings pitched.
Like they did in the first game of the series, the Bucs would strike first on Friday. Jacklin would knock in the first ETSU run with a single before another run would come across the plate on a double play. Miami, however, answered in its half of the first inning with a two-run home run to bring the score back even.
The Bucs regained the lead in the third. Jacklin was again the middle of rally starting it with a single and stolen base. Gent and Yakubinis then followed with back-to-back doubles to give the Bucs another two-run lead, 4-2. Miami would trim the Buccaneer lead to a run with a solo home run in the bottom half of the third, 4-3.
Miami would take its first lead of the afternoon with a three-run fourth inning. Three straight singles started the frame and tied the game at four. It looked like ETSU could get out of the jam with a clutch double play. However, the Redhawks would slug their third home run of the day to go up 6-4.
Another Redhawk run in the fifth grew their lead to three, 7-4. ETSU did not give up, however, as an RBI single from Iannantone in the eighth got the Bucs within two, 7-5, heading to the ninth inning. Miller and Jacklin would begin the final frame with back-to-back singles. Miami turned another key double play, but Miller scored to make it 7-6 Miami. Down to their final out, Yakubinis reignited the Buccaneer offense with a triple to right field before Palmese worked a walk to get the go-ahead run on base with two outs. However, Miami wiggled out of trouble with strikeout to finish off the 7-6 win.
The rubber match between the Bucs and Redhawks will be played tomorrow. Due to impending weather, Saturday's first pitch has been moved up and is slated for 11 a.m.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
