Saturday, April 01, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 1, 2006) - The ETSU baseball team started sluggishly in both games of Saturday's doubleheader versus Belmont and could not recover in either, dropping the two contests 16-9 and 11-7.

The Bucs (17-12, 6-4 A-Sun) fell begind 7-0 after two innings in the day's first game, and trailed 14-3 after the Bruins hung seven runs in the sixth.  ETSU mounted a late-inning rally with the help of a solo homer by senior Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.) and two home runs from senior outfielder Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.), outscoring Belmont 6-2 over the last three innings, but the rally fell short in the 16-9 defeat.

Junior Ryan Howe (Spartanburg, S.C.) fell to 2-2 on the year, throwing one inning and surrendering seven runs on six hits.  Charles Lee upped his record to 3-4 despite giving up 13 hits and eight runs in seven innings of work.

In the nightcap, the Bruins (13-14, 4-7) scored five runs over the first three innings and held off a late Buccaneer rally for the 11-7 victory.  Trailing 11-3 entering the ninth inning, the Bucs plated four runs to cut the deficit to four; the last two runs coming on junior Stephen Douglas' (Kennesaw, Ga.) two-run blast to right-center field, his fourth of the season.  Eric Diaz came in to record the final two outs, and cement the Bruins win.

Freshman starter Trey Sheffield (Alpharetta, Ga.) lasted 1 2/3 innings, and surrendered four runs on six hits, falling to 0-2 on the season.  Bruin starter Josh Moffitt (3-1) held the Bucs to three runs over six innings while striking out six.

Byrne finished the day 5-for-10 with four runs scored and five RBI, while senior Matt Traylor (Knoxville, Tenn.) continued his hot hitting of late, also going 5-for-10 with two runs scored and an RBI.

The two teams conclude the series Sunday afternoon from Cardinal Park.  First pitch is set for 1 p.m.