Saturday, February 20, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Feb. 20, 2010) - A five-run ninth by the Buccaneers propelled the ETSU baseball team past 34^th ranked Kansas State at The Citadel Memorial Challenge Saturday afternoon at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C., 10-6.

 

"It was nice to get the first win today," said head coach Tony Skole. "I was very impressed with our team today. Throughout the game I thought we handled some adverse situations very well against a very good baseball team. We lost the lead three times today, but were able to show some poise and play through it.

 

Freshman Scott McNally (Marietta, Ga.) picked up the win for the Bucs (1-1) going 1.0 scoreless inning allowing no hits with two strikeouts. Jake Doller was tabbed with the loss for Kansas State (1-1) after surrendering four runs on six hits in 2.0 innings of work.

 

Junior Ben Booker (Knoxville, Tenn.) had a solid start for ETSU going 5.0 innings allowing four runs on six hits with two strikeouts and no walks.

 

The Wildcats took an early lead in the first inning as Nick Martini doubled to left driving in two to go in front 2-0. In the next at bat, right fielder Mike Kindel dumped a single into left scoring Martini to take a 3-0 lead.

 

First baseman Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) got the Buccaneers on the board in the top of the third with a two-run home run over the fence in right cutting the K-State lead to 3-2. Later in the inning junior Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) singled up the middle scoring second baseman Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) to tie the game at 3-all. ETSU took the lead a couple at bats later when Derek Niesman (Wellington, Fla.) singled through the left side scoring Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) to make the score 4-3 Bucs.

 

The home run by Hoilman was his first of the season and 27^th of his career, and puts him atop the Atlantic Sun active home run leader board.

 

Kansas State tied the game at 4-all in the bottom of the fourth as the designated hitter Blair DaBord doubled in a run.

 

The Cats regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a Matt Giller RBI single through the right side to give K-State a 5-4 advantage. With the bases loaded sophomore Josh Means (Kennesaw, Ga.) got a big strikeout and then made a great play at the plate to tag out Daniel Dellasega to end the inning and get out of the jam.

 

The Buccaneers evened things at 5-all in the top of the seventh as Doane drove in Hoilman on an RBI fielders choice after Hoilman advanced to third on a Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) single to left.

 

Hoilman came up big for the Bucs in the top of the ninth as he doubled to right center driving in centerfielder Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Reeder to give ETSU a 7-5 lead. The Buccaneers added three insurance runs in the inning on RBI singles by Trent and Byrne, and a RBI double by Doane to extend the ETSU lead to 10-5.

 

In the bottom of the ninth, the Wildcats picked up a run on a RBI single by Carter Jurica to make the final 10-6.

 

"I thought our pitching and defense were solid again today" Skole said. "Add that with 18 hits and you should have a good chance to win. Paul and Chas gave us a spark offensively, and Kerry was outstanding. It was fun to watch them play today. It will be nice to be outside for the third straight day against another good opponent."

                                                                                                                             

ETSU was led offensively by Doane and Hoilman, as Doane was 4-for-5 on the day with a double and two RBI, while Hoilman was 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and drove in four.

 

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 10 a.m. as they take on Delaware on the final day of The Citadel Memorial Challenge. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

 

ETSU 10, Kansas State 6 (Feb. 20, 2010 at Charleston, S.C.)
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ETSU............ 004  000  105  - 10   18     2   (1-1)

KSU............... 300  101  001   -  6    10     2   (1-1)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Ben Booker; Josh Means (6); Scott McNally (8); Bo Burton (9)

KSU - Evan Marshall; Jake Doller (7); Kieth Picht (9)

Win - Scott McNally (1-0) Loss - Jake Doller (0-1) 

HR - ETSU - Paul Hoilman (1)