OXFORD, Ohio (May 18, 2024) – The ETSU baseball team finished off the 2024 regular season with a 10-2 road victory at Miami (OH) on Saturday. The win boosts ETSU's record to 34-18, which is the program's most wins in a season since 2019. Additionally, the 34 victories are tied for the fourth-most in the history of ETSU baseball.
Blake Jacklin led the charge for the Buccaneer offense on Saturday going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and four RBI. Playing in his final regular season game as a Buc,
Ashton King drove in two runs and had a triple to help the cause.
Cody Miller (1-for-4, stolen base) and
Noah Gent (two walks) also scored twice in the series-clinching victory.
Nathan Hickman, who made his first career start earlier this month vs. UNC Asheville, gave the Bucs another stellar outing on Saturday. Hickman tossed a career-high 5.2 innings and held the Miami offense to one run (not earned) on four hits to go with a pair of strikeouts. Hickman, who tallied his third win of the season with his outing on Saturday, was followed by four ETSU relievers in
Tyler Fetterman,
Andrew Cotten,
Brian Crooms and
Owen Kovacs. These four pitchers combined for six strikeouts and just one run allowed over the final 3.1 innings to close out the game.
Unlike the first two games of the series, the Redhawks would score first on Saturday. However, Hickman limited Miami to a single run in the first inning. Trailing by 1-0, the Bucs got on the scoreboard in the fourth. ETSU scored five times on one hit and took advantage of a pair of Miami errors to gain its first lead of the day.
King would add to the Buccaneer lead with an RBI triple in the sixth. ETSU scored four more times in eighth. Jacklin would hammer a three-run home run to score Miller and Gent to make the score 9-1 Bucs. An RBI double from
Jamie Palmese would bring home another run for ETSU.
With the results around the league this week, ETSU has earned the No. 3 seed for next week's SoCon Tournament. The third-place finish is the highest for the Bucs since 2010. Additionally, it is ETSU's highest finish in a SoCon season since 1992. The Bucs will open the SoCon Tournament on Thursday night at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. against the winner of No. 6/7 game between Mercer and VMI on Wednesday. First pitch for ETSU's opening game on Thursday is set for 7 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
