JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 29, 2025) – The ETSU baseball team rolled past UNC Asheville by a score of 21-7 in seven innings on Tuesday night as the program recognized its eight seniors,
Cooper Torres,
JD Yakubinis,
Andrew Ronne,
Kenny Keller,
Lenny Montesano,
Blake Jacklin,
Carter Fink and
Landon Crumbley. Tuesday's victory boosted ETSU's record to 31-12 this season, including a 23-7 mark at Thomas Stadium.
The 21 runs scored by the Bucs were the most by the team this season. All 13 ETSU players that had a plate appearance on Tuesday reached base at least once and the Blue and Gold scored at least one run in all six innings that they came to the plate. Yakubinis led the charge going 3-for-4 with a home run and a career-high six RBI. The six runs driven in by Yakubinis tied the most for a Buc this season (
Cody Miller vs. Longwood).
Fellow senior Torres also homered and had three hits in the win. For Torres it was his 18
th home run of the season to move into a tie for second place on the national home run leaderboard with fellow Buccaneer
Grant Gallagher. Speaking of Gallagher, the Buccaneer third baseman matched a program single game record with four walks. The four walks drawn by Gallagher were a major part of ETSU working 14 free passes against the Bulldog pitching staff, which also matched a single game school record.
In addition to the 14 walks, the Bucs also totaled 16 hits. Miller,
Gabe Juarez and
Jamie Palmese all had two hits to help the cause. In addition to ETSU's hitting and patience at the plate, the Bucs also pushed the issue on the basepaths swiping a season-high six bases. Palmese stole three bases, while Torres, Gallagher and Jacklin also stole bases in the decisive win.
On the mound, the Bucs used five pitchers on Tuesday. Crumbley started the game for ETSU and earned his third win of the season after working the first three innings. Crumbley struck out two and worked around two walks and one hit during his outing.
Derek McCarley also logged a scoreless appearance against the Bulldogs.
ETSU scored early and often against Asheville. The Bucs scored one in the first, three in the second, two in the third and five in the fourth after the Bulldogs scored three in the top half of that frame. ETSU's offense kept rolling with two more in the fifth and eight in the sixth to put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs even with multiple runs coming across in the sixth and seventh. Tuesday's win improves ETSU's record to 13-1 in its last 14 games against UNC Asheville.
The Bucs will head back out on the road this weekend when they visit VMI in a key SoCon series. The three-game set is slated to get underway on Friday at 6 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
