Thursday, May 27, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 26, 2010) - The third seeded ETSU baseball team held off a late rally to defeat fourth seeded North Florida in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Tournament Wednesday night at Dugan Field in Nashville, Tenn.

 

Junior Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) picked up the win for ETSU to improve to 9-5 on the year after going 8.1 innings giving up five runs on 11 hits and tied a career-high with six strikeouts.

 

UNF Starter Michael Kelly was tabbed with the loss for the Ospreys after surrendering seven runs (six earned) on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work.

 

Third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) and centerfielder Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the Buccaneers offensively in the contest. Reeder was a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run and a walk, while Scruggs was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI.

 

ETSU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) came in to score from third on an error by Kelly.

 

Scruggs extended the Buccaneer lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third as he drove a lead off solo shot over the fence in right center. The home run was the 12^th of the season for Scruggs.

 

The Ospreys answered in the top of the fourth as T.J. Thompson tied the game at 2-all on a two-run single off of the right field wall.

 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Bucs regained the lead 3-2 as Reeder led of the inning with his 20^th home run of the season.

 

The Bucs plated three runs on three hits in the fifth to increase the ETSU advantage to 6-2. After an intentional walk to Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.), Trent singled to center to score second baseman Derek Niesman (Wellington, Fla.) from third. Later in the inning, freshman Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) singled to center with the bases loaded scoring two runs.

 

Preston Hale led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run over the left field fence to cut the Buccaneer lead to 6-3.

 

ETSU got the run back in the bottom half of the seventh as Scruggs singled in Michael Gonzalez (Jupiter, Fla.) from second to make the score 7-3 Bucs.

 

Hale drove his second home run of the game over the fence in right center for a two run homer in the eighth inning to cut the ETSU lead to two runs, 7-5.

 

Junior Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) came in to close the game in the ninth. After walking T.J. Gavlik to load the bases with one out, Byrne struck out Justin Preckajlo and Hale to end the game and pick up his second save in as many games.

 

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 8 p.m. EST as they face second seeded Mercer in a winner's bracket game. For more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.

                                   

 

#3 ETSU 7, #4 UNF 5 (May 26, 2010 at Nashville, Tenn.)
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UNF............... 000  201  020  -  5    11     1       (29-27, 14-12 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 011  131  00x    -  7    10     0       (31-26, 15-12 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Bo Burton; Chas Byrne (9)

UNF - Michael Kelly; Casey Medlen (6)

Win - Bo Burton (9-5) Loss - Michael Kelly (5-8) Save - Chas Byrne (2)                              

HR - ETSU - Matthew Scruggs (12); Bo Burton (20)

UNF - Preston Hale 2(11)