GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 22, 2025) – The No. 1 seed ETSU baseball team will take the field for the first time in the 2025 SoCon Baseball Tournament on Friday morning at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. The Bucs will take on either No. 5 seed Western Carolina or No. 4 seed Mercer at 9 a.m. on Friday. Live stat and ESPN+ links will be available on etsubucs.com.
 
Last Time Out – ETSU clinched its first outright regular season conference championship in 45 years last Saturday when it knocked off The Citadel by a score of 11-2. Saturday's win was ETSU's 38^th of the season and boosted its overall record to 38-15 and 14-7 in SoCon play.
 
Four Major SoCon Award Winners are Bucs – The SoCon unveiled its annual major award winners and All-Conference teams on Tuesday. ETSU earned four of the five major awards. Cooper Torres was named the SoCon Player of the Year, Brady Frederick was touted as the SoCon Pitcher of the Year, Axel Melendez was tabbed the SoCon Freshman of the Year and finally Head Coach Joe Pennucci took home SoCon Coach of the Year honors. The 2025 Bucs are the first team in conference history to earn all four awards in the same season.
 
12 Bucs Garner All-SoCon Honors – On top of the major award winners, eight other Bucs were recognized for their play this spring. Torres and Frederick were joined on the All-SoCon First Team by Carter Fink, Jace Hyde and Jamie Palmese. Four other Bucs landed spots on the All-SoCon Second Team in Derek McCarley, Cody Miller, Grant Gallagher, and Lenny Montesano. Miller along with Tristan Curless were also honored for their work defensively by earning All-Defensive Team honors as well.
 
Terrific Season from Torres – Torres turned in one of the best offensive seasons in ETSU baseball history in 2025. In 53 games played, Torres hit .370 with 22 home runs and 66 RBI. Torres is one of three ETSU sluggers to ever hit 22 or more home runs in a single season joining Paul Hoilman and Cameron Sisneros. Torres needs just four more long balls to break Hoilman's school record for homers in a season (25 – 2010). The Woodstock, Georgia native also has the fourth-most total bases (161) by a Buc in one campaign, fifth-most RBI (66) and his .774 slugging percentage trails only Mike Nipper (.897 – 1983) and Hoilman (.860 – 2010) for the best mark in school history.
 
Frederick is the first ETSU SoCon Pitcher of the Year – As good as Torres has been offensively, sophomore Brady Frederick has been just as good on the mound. Frederick became the first Buc ever to be named the SoCon Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday. Frederick enters the SoCon Tournament ranking top 10 nationally in WHIP (4^th – 0.85), hits allowed per nine innings (5^th – 5.32) and ERA (6^th – 2.10).
 
Stacking Up Against Historical SoCon Seasons – Entering postseason play, the Bucs have hit 111 home runs this season. ETSU's home run total not only ranks fourth nationally but it also is the fifth-most homers by a SoCon team in league history. Only 2009 Elon (138 HRs), 2008 College of Charleston (130 HRs), 1988 Western Carolina (116 HRs) and 2008 Georgia Southern (114 HRs) sit in front of this ETSU team on that list. On the mound, the ETSU pitching staff is holding opposing lineups to a .251 batting average. If the season ended with that mark, it would tie for the eighth-lowest in conference history and the lowest since 2019 when Samford's staff held lineups to a .245 average.
 
About the Tournament Field – ETSU has earned at least one win against other seven teams taking the field in Greenville this week. The Bucs, who have never been the No. 1 seed in a SoCon Tournament, went 5-2 in series this spring in conference play with the lone setbacks coming against UNC Greensboro and The Citadel. Entering this week, the SoCon ranks sixth nationally in conference RPI. The seeds for this week's tournament are No. 2 Samford, No. 3 The Citadel, No. 4 Mercer, No. 5 Western Carolina, No. 6 UNC Greensboro, No. 7 Wofford and No. 8 VMI. For more information on the 2025 SoCon Tournament, click HERE.  
Bucs at the SoCon Tournament – Friday will mark the 26^th appearance for ETSU in the SoCon Tournament. The Bucs are 24-47 all-time in the event and they are still in search of their first tournament title in the SoCon. In the tournaments contested at Fluor Field in Greenville, ETSU is 10-14 and 8-12 against current members of the conference. If the Bucs reach the finals, it'll be the first time ETSU has reached the final day of the SoCon Tournament.
 
Bucs Pushing for a NCAA Tournament Appearance – With 38 victories this spring, the Bucs are in position to potentially earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament even if they don't win the SoCon Tournament which grants the winning team an automatic bid. Should the Bucs qualify for the national tournament, it'll be their fifth appearance and their first since 2013 when they were members of the Atlantic Sun. The last time the Bucs represented the SoCon in the NCAA Baseball Tournament was in 1981.

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