ATHENS, Ga. (March 11, 2025) – The ETSU baseball team pushed No. 4 Georgia to the brink on Tuesday but ultimately fell on the road to the Bulldogs by a score of 8-6. Tuesday's loss moves to ETSU's record to 12-4 on the 2025 campaign.
 
ETSU doubled up the Bulldogs in the hit column on Tuesday (10-5). The duo of Grant Gallagher and Cooper Torres collected two hits each against Georgia. One of Torres's hits was his eighth home run of the season. Tristan Curless, who started the game on the mound for the Bucs, also connected on an opposite-field home run to round out the offensive highlights for the Blue and Gold.
 
Plenty of pitchers saw action on Tuesday for the Bucs. ETSU used a total of nine different pitchers against the Bulldogs. Andrew Ronne, who relieved Curless in the bottom of the first with nobody out and the bases loaded, had the best outing of the group tossing 2.2 shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. As a staff, the Bucs held a Georgia offense that was hitting .321 coming into the game to just five hits. However, nine walks and four hit batters helped the Bulldogs still score eight runs in the contest.
 
After the Bucs were retired in order in the top of the first, the Bulldogs struck first in the bottom of the first. Three straight walks by Georgia led the Bucs to make an early call to the bullpen. A two-run single from Tre Phelps scored two, but Ronne was able to get ETSU out of the inning with no further damage.
 
Ronne, Tate Jones and Andrew Cotten held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard the next three innings. ETSU had at least one base runner in each of those frames but did not score. The Bucs broke through in the fifth with a solo home run by Curless. Georgia promptly got that run back on an RBI ground out in the bottom half of the inning. Torres slugged his solo home run in the sixth to get the Bucs back within a run. Gallagher then led the seventh off with a single and then worked his way around the bases eventually scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game, 3-3, going to the bottom of the seventh.
 
In Georgia's half of the seventh, the Bulldogs scored twice without a hit. The Bulldogs' seventh went walk, back-to-back hit by pitches and then a balk with the bases loaded gave them the lead again, 4-3. The third hit batter of the inning reloaded the bases, and another walk extended the Bulldog advantage back to two, 5-3.
 
Georgia, which came into Tuesday second in the country in home runs, slugged a two-run home run in the eighth and added one more run with a sacrifice fly to make it a five-run game, 8-3, going to the ninth.
 
Despite facing its largest deficit of the game, ETSU battled back to get the tying run to the plate. Gallagher, Joey Little and Lenny Montesano started the frame with three consecutive singles. Back-to-back ground outs brought home two runs and then Blake Jacklin brought home the third run of the inning with a single to make the score 8-6. With the tying run at the plate and two outs, the Bulldogs induced a pop out to close out their 16^th win in a row.
 
ETSU will return home to Thomas Stadium this weekend with a three-games series against Longwood. The series between the Bucs and Lancers will get underway at 5 p.m. on Friday in Johnson City.

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