BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 4, 2026) – The ETSU baseball team overcame an early deficit for the second straight day to knock off Samford by a score of 6-4 on Saturday afternoon. Saturday's victory clinches the third consecutive SoCon series win for ETSU and boosts their overall record to 21-8 (6-3 in SoCon play).
Six of ETSU's nine hits on Saturday came from three players in
Henry Ferguson,
Tristan Curless, and
Tyler Fetterman as each Buc had two hits in the contest.
Nate Conner,
Ian Guanzon, and
Mason Ault also picked up hits against the Bulldogs, while Conner, Ferguson, Curless, Ault, and
Luke Matlock accounted for the RBI for ETSU.
The Buccaneers used just three pitchers on Saturday.
Michael Harpster pitched the first five-plus innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits to go with three strikeouts.
Cooper Jones followed Harpster and gave ETSU 3.1 shutout frames. Curless then recorded the final two outs of the game on strikeouts. Jones earned his second win of the season to improve to 2-0, and Curless picked up his second save of the season.
Samford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Bucs with single runs in the first and second. ETSU's offense was held quiet until the fifth. Conner got the Bucs into the run column with a double that scored Ault. An RBI groundout by Ferguson tied the game at 2-2 before Curless gave the Bucs their first lead of the afternoon with a ringing single into right-center field.
The Bucs made it a two-run game in the sixth as they led the frame off with three consecutive singles with the last coming from Ault that scored Fetterman. Samford, which hadn't scored since the second inning, brought two runs across to tie the game at 4-4 going to the seventh inning.
ETSU regained the lead in the seventh as Ferguson scored after leading off the inning with a double. The Bucs then turned to small ball in the eighth for an insurance run. Fetterman walked and Guanzon was hit by a pitch to give ETSU a pair of runners on base with nobody out. Ault laid down a successful sacrifice bunt, which led into a sacrifice fly from Matlock to make the score 6-4 Bucs going to the ninth.
Facing a two-run deficit in the ninth, Samford brought the tying run to the plate with one out after a double by Pierce Dutton. The Bucs then turned the ball over to Curless to lock down the win. Much like he did two weeks ago against UNC Greensboro, Curless did just that striking out the final two Bulldog hitters and sealing a 6-4 win for ETSU.
ETSU will be back in action on Tuesday when it visits Radford in non-conference action. First pitch for that game is set for 5 p.m.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
