Thursday, May 21, 2009

DELAND, Fla. (May 21, 2009) - The ETSU baseball team got a combined eight scoreless innings of work from starter Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) and the bullpen as the Bucs topped Stetson in their first game of the Atlantic Sun Tournament at Melching Field in DeLand, Fla., 4-2.

ETSU improves to 25-27 overall, while Stetson falls to 27-30. The Bucs were led offensively by third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) and centerfielder Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.). Reeder went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Fabry was 1-for-3 with a walk and scored a run.

Byrne went 6.1 innings allowing only two runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Andy Mauldin was tabbed with the loss after giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits in 6.1 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

 The Bucs got on the board first in the top of the fourth as catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) came in to score on an error by Stetson third baseman Sean Emory to take a 1-0 lead.

ETSU added another run in the top of the fifth as right fielder Cory Betterson (Atlanta, Ga.) scored on a throwing error by catcher Nick Rickles to make the score 2-0 Bucs. Later in the inning, left fielder Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) singled in Fabry to give ETSU a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Reeder extended the ETSU lead to 4-0 as he singled in Betterson.

The Hatters cut the Buccaneer lead in half in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run by second baseman Mark Jones to bring the score to 4-2.

Darren Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C.) came in and shut down the Hatters in the seventh getting the Bucs out of a bases loaded jam. The senior went on to throw 2.1 scoreless innings surrendering only one hit and struck out two on his way to his fourth save of the year.

The Bucs are back action tomorrow at 1 p.m. against Lipscomb in the A-Sun tournament. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

ETSU 4, Stetson 2 (May 21, 2009 at DeLand, Fla.)
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ETSU............ 000  120  100  -  4      7      0   (25-27, 10-20 A-Sun)

SU................. 000  000  200   -  2      7      3   (27-30, 16-14 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Josh Gonzaga (7); Darren Caldwell (7)

SU - Andy Mauldin; Ian Thompson (7); Robbie Powell (7); Ryan Sweat (9)

Win - Chas Byrne (6-4) Loss - Andy Mauldin (6-4) Save - Darren Caldwell (4)