JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 5, 2025) – The ETSU baseball team dropped a pair of close games to UNC Greensboro on Saturday afternoon at Thomas Stadium by scores of 5-4 and 3-2. The two losses on Saturday move ETSU's record to 22-9 overall and 3-3 in SoCon play.
Game One Recap – After scoring 17 runs in the first game of the series against the Spartans, the Bucs were limited to just five hits in the first game on Saturday. UNCG pushed across the first run of the game in the first inning with a double.
UNCG's lead was quickly erased in the bottom of the first by the Bucs. Helped by a throwing error by UNCG starting pitcher Jay Miller,
Blake Jacklin scored the tying run on an RBI groundout from
Cooper Torres. A batter later, the national home run leader
Grant Gallagher added another long ball to his total slamming a two-run shot to give the Bucs their first lead of the day, 3-1. For Gallagher, that was his 17
th home run of the 2025 campaign.
Both teams scored single runs in the fourth. For the Bucs,
Lenny Montesano had a one-out double and scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by
Axel Melendez. After the fourth, the Spartans kept the Buccaneer offense in check retiring ETSU in order in four of the final five innings.
With UNCG keeping the ETSU's offense quiet, the Spartans scored single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to pull in front and knot the series at a game a piece with a 5-4 win.
Game Two Recap – The rubber match of the series was a pitchers' duel. Neither offense got much going until the fourth inning. UNCG slugged a solo home run to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Just like the first game of the day, the Bucs were quick to answer in the bottom half of the same inning as a two-run double by
JD Yakubinis gave ETSU a 2-1 advantage.
UNCG tied it in the fifth and pulled back in front with another run in the sixth. The Spartans rode reliever Danny Thompson Jr. for the final 5.1 innings. Thompson Jr. allowed just two hits and two walks and struck out 10 Buccaneer hitters to take the game the rest of the way to clinch the series win.
For the Bucs,
Michael Harpster logged his longest start of the season tossing 7.1 innings. Harpster pitched well allowing three runs on seven hits to go with four strikeouts.
Andrew Ronne closed the game with 1.2 shutout innings out of the Buccaneer bullpen.
Offensively, a trio of Bucs had two-hit games in the series finale.
Cody Miller reached base three times on a 2-for-3 day with a walk and a stolen base. Melendez went 2-for-4 with a double and
Jamie Palmese, like Miller, went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Next Up – ETSU will be back in action on Tuesday when it visits Radford. The Highlanders upended the Bucs, 10-8, last Wednesday in Johnson City. The rematch between Radford and ETSU is set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday on ESPN+.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
