NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 9, 2026) – The ETSU baseball team will continue its road swing this weekend with a three-game series at Belmont. The Bucs will play a single game against the Bruins on Friday before playing a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday. Friday's game will begin at 5 p.m. eastern time and Saturday's twin bill is scheduled for a 2 p.m. eastern time start with the series finale to follow. All three games are also scheduled to air on ESPN+.
Probable Pitching Matchups
LHP Tadan Bell (ETSU) vs. LHP Tate Marland (BEL) – Friday @ 5 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
RHP Michael Harpster (ETSU) vs. LHP Ridge Harvey (BEL) – Saturday @ 2 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+
TBA (ETSU) vs. TBA (BEL) – Saturday – 45 minutes after completion of game two | Live Stats | ESPN+
Last Time Out – The Buccaneers dropped their midweek game at Radford on Tuesday by a score of 4-3. With Tuesday's loss to the Highlanders, the Bucs moved to 21-9 on the season.
Ferguson Reaches Base for the 30th Consecutive Game – Sophomore shortstop
Henry Ferguson hit a double on Tuesday at Radford and with that hit reached base for the 30
th straight game to start this season. Entering this weekend's action, Ferguson is fourth in the SoCon with a .511 on-base percentage and fifth in batting average at .385.
Notes from the Non-Conference – This weekend's series at Belmont will be the sixth non-conference series for the Bucs this season. ETSU is 15-6 in non-SoCon games this season and has outscored opponents by nearly 100 runs (188-89). The Bucs have 10 hitters batting over .300 outside of the SoCon, while there are 10 pitchers that have ERA's under 4.00 in the same contests.
Tops in the SoCon – As the schedule moves to the second week of April, the Bucs lead the SoCon in three statistical categories and they are all on the pitching side. ETSU paces all SoCon pitching staffs in team ERA (4.27), hits allowed per nine innings (8.29), and WHIP (1.42). The Bucs also led the conference in all three of those categories last season.
Conner and Curless doing damage – A big part of ETSU's offense this season has been the play of
Nate Conner and
Tristan Curless. Conner is hitting .310 with plenty of extra base hits (10 doubles, 10 home runs, two triples) and 32 RBI. Curless, meanwhile, is hitting .363 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI in 30 games. Conner and Curless are just the 17
th set of teammates in Division I baseball this season that have hit 10 or more home runs.
About Belmont – Belmont will bring a 12-21 overall record with it into this weekend's series with ETSU. The Bruins have won their last two weekend series, including a big series victory against a team that went to the College World Series last season, Murray State. A pair of Bruins to watch this weekend are Brady Holbrook and Charlie Davis. Holbrook ranks second in the Missouri Valley Conference in batting average (.377), while Davis is not far behind in sixth (.353).
Series Rewind vs. Belmont – The Bucs and Bruins have met a total of 30 times over the years. This weekend's series will be the first games between these two programs since 2012. Overall, Belmont holds the edge historically against ETSU winning 22 of the previous 30 matchups.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
