JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 18, 2026) – A day after slugging a pair of home runs,
Luke Matlock delivered a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Bucs to a 5-4 victory over The Citadel on Saturday afternoon at Thomas Stadium. Saturday's victory propels ETSU's overall record to 24-12 and 7-4 in SoCon action.
Matlock, who delivered the game-winning hit, also drove in ETSU's first run of the game.
Tyler Fetterman also drove in two runs for the Bucs in a 2-for-4 day at the plate. First baseman
Tristan Curless also tallied a two-hit day (2-for-3) to lead the charge for ETSU's offense.
Four Buccaneers saw action on the mounds on Saturday.
Michael Harpster started the game for ETSU and threw the first 5.2 innings. Harpster allowed two runs on six hits and struck out six Bulldogs.
Carter Oliff tossed a scoreless inning out of ETSU's bullpen. Curless ended up getting the win on the mound after tossing the final 1.1 innings and striking out two.
The Citadel jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on ETSU thanks to a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. After that two-run second, Citadel's Andrew Buffkin and Harpster matched each other zero for zero until the bottom of the fifth.
Matlock's RBI groundout scored
Axel Melendez in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Bulldogs' lead in half. As the bottom of the sixth began, the Bulldogs turned the game over to their bullpen. Singles by Curless and
Jamie Palmese got things rolling for ETSU. Fetterman then delivered a two-run double to give the Bucs their first lead of the contest. It looked like The Citadel would keep the damage there, but
Ian Guanzon drove in Fetterman with a single with two outs to make it a 4-2 game.
The Bulldogs would get one of those runs back in the seventh and then tie the game in the top of the ninth to make the score 4-4. ETSU received an immediate jolt in the bottom of the ninth with a double from
Mason Ault.
Andrew Palmer, who came in to run for Ault, moved up to third on successful sacrifice bunt by Guanzon. Matlock then delivered the walk off single to give the 5-4 win to ETSU.
ETSU and The Citadel will conclude their series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch between the Bucs and Bulldogs is set for 1 p.m. from Thomas Stadium.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
