NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 30, 2025) – The ETSU baseball team jumped out to an early lead, but Louisville rallied to knock off the Bucs by a score of 8-3 on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the NCAA Nashville Regional. The loss moves ETSU's record to 41-16 on the 2025 campaign.
ETSU was limited to just three hits against the Cardinals. Two of the three hits were home runs.
Cody Miller hit an early two-run home run and then
Tristan Curless smacked a solo home run late in the game.
Blake Jacklin accounted for ETSU's other hit on the day, while
Jamie Palmese (two walks) and
JD Yakubinis (two hit by pitches) reached base twice as well.
Three pitchers saw action for the Bucs against the Cardinals.
Carter Fink got the starting nod and worked the first 4.1 innings. Fink allowed six runs on five hits and struck out four in the outing but saw his record dip to 6-5 on the season.
Derek McCarley was the first reliever into the game for the Bucs and worked two innings and allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out three.
Colin Eaton wrapped up the game for ETSU and threw 1.2 shutout innings. Eaton has now thrown 3.1 scoreless innings across his last three appearances.
Both starting pitchers began Friday's matchup well with five straight zeros but the Bucs broke through with the game's first runs in the third. Yakubinis was hit by a pitch and then Miller hit his opposite-field two-run home run to give ETSU a 2-0 lead.
Fink was dialed in for ETSU not allowing a baserunner until the third. An one-out single by Kamau Neighbors was followed by a two-run shot by Lucas Moore to pull the Cardinals back even, 2-2. Louisville then took its first lead of the afternoon in the fourth. The Cardinals went walk, single, single to bring across their third run of the contest. Later in the frame, Louisville's fourth run came across to score on a sacrifice fly.
After getting its first lead, Louisville kept adding in the fifth. A two-run home run and then a solo homer later in the frame extended the Cardinal advantage to 7-2 after five innings of action. Louisville scratched across an unearned run in the seventh to make it 8-2 Cardinals. The Bucs did get one back in the eighth with a solo home run by Curless to make it a five-run game again, 8-3.
That long ball by Curless proved to be the final baserunner for the Bucs as Louisville reliever Brennyn Curtis finished off a three-inning save to give the Cardinals their first NCAA Tournament win since 2022.
The Bucs will return to action tomorrow against the losing team of the game between No. 1 seed Vanderbilt and No. 4 seed Wright State later this evening in an elimination game. First pitch for that matchup is set for 3 p.m. eastern time.
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