TOLEDO, Ohio (April 26, 2025) – The ETSU baseball team made some history on Saturday as it hit its 93
rd and 94
th home run as a team to break the program's single season program record set back in 2010. Despite the power displayed by the Bucs, Toledo rallied late to win Saturday's game against the Bucs by a score of 7-6. Saturday's loss moves ETSU's record to 29-12 this season.
Blake Jacklin paced the Buccaneer offense with three hits on Saturday in a 3-for-3 day at the plate with two runs scored. The two home runs hit by ETSU on Saturday came from
Cooper Torres (17
th of the season) and
Tristan Curless (7
th of the season). The 94 homers hit by ETSU in 2025 are not only the most in school history, but it also is tied for the tenth-most in SoCon history matching the total from last season's Mercer squad.
On the mound, sophomore
Jace Hyde turned in another stellar start. Hyde worked 5.1 innings and allowed two runs on six hits and struck out four. Three Buccaneer relievers followed Hyde and combined to allow five runs on seven hits and five walks as the Rockets came back to even the series at a game a piece.
Like it has done several times this spring, ETSU jumped out to an early lead on Saturday.
Cody Miller worked a walk to start the contest. The Bucs then executed a perfect hit and run with Jacklin and Miller advanced to third on the play. An RBI groundout by
Grant Gallagher gave the Bucs a 1-0 lead before Torres blasted a two-run home run, his 17
th of the season, to push the Buccaneer advantage to three after a half inning of action.
The Rockets got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first thanks to a pair of singles. ETSU had another three-run inning in the third. Like in the first inning, both Miller and Jacklin reached base to give the Bucs a scoring threat. This time, however, it was Curless who launched a three-run home run to right field to extend the Buccaneer lead to five, 6-1.
Toledo started to chip away at ETSU's lead in the sixth. An one-out double was followed by three straight walks, and a two-run single later in the frame made it a two-run game, 6-4, heading to the seventh inning. The Rockets then completed their comeback with a three-run home run from Caden Konczak to give them their first lead of the game, 7-6, in the bottom of the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, the Bucs did get a pinch-hit single from
Lenny Montesano, but Toledo retired the next batter to finish off the 7-6 comeback victory.
The rubber match of this weekend's series will be played on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
