Tuesday, April 01, 2008

ATLANTA, Ga. (April 1, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team jumped out an early lead but surrendered 11 unanswered runs in the loss to 14^th ranked Georgia Tech Tuesday night at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.

ETSU (6-20, 6-9) was out hit by the Yellow Jackets 11-10 and committed three errors during critical parts of the game. Freshman Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) had his first good start of the year as he gave up five runs on four hits, but only three of those five runs were earned.

Georgia Tech scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first on a Brad Feltes RBI single to right field to make the score 1-0. The Bucs answered in the top of the second on a Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) double down the left field line to drive in Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) and Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) to take a 2-1 lead. A couple batters later Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) came threw with a clutch two out single up the middle to drive in Allen to increase the Buc lead to 3-1.

In the top of the third ETSU score another run as Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) would score on a passed ball to make the score 4-1.

The Yellow Jackets cut into the ETSU lead on a solo home run by Tony Plagman to cut the lead to 4-2. The Bucs answered again in the top of the fifth as freshman Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) hit a solo shot to the deepest part of the park to increase the Buc lead to 5-2. In the same inning Trent hit a monster shot to right center that had to have gone 450 feet to give the Bucs a 6-2 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Georgia Tech loaded the bases and would score three runs on errors by Petro and Nick Belcher (Abingdon, Va.) and a sacrifice fly by Plagman to make the score 6-5. The Bucs would keep the Yellow Jackets from tying up the game as Bubba Herbold (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.) combined to cut down Derek Deitrich at the plate for the third out of the inning.

Georgia Tech tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a Jason Haniger solo home run. The Yellow Jackets took the lead on a Deitrich two-run double to left center and would add another on a Feltes RBI single up the middle to make the score 9-6.

The Yellow Jackets extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth as Thomas Nichols scored on a wild pitch, Luke Murton drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Patrick Long drove in two more with his double down the left field line increasing the lead to 13-6.

Fabry led all Buc hitters as he was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI, while Allen had two RBI in the game.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow night against Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler Stadium with the game time set for 6 p.m.

Georgia Tech 13, ETSU 6 (April 1, 2008 at Atlanta, Ga.)
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ETSU........031  020  000   -  6  10  3   (6-20, 6-9 A-Sun)

GT............ 100  134  04x   -  13  11  1   (23-5, 8-4 ACC)

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Pitchers: ETSU -  Bo Burton; Dustin Plumlee (5); Chas Byrne (7); Jimmy Tidwell (8)
GT -  Deck McGuire; Taylor Wood (6); Chris Hicks (7); Brad Rulon (8)

Win -  Taylor Wood (2-0) Loss -  Dustin Plumlee (1-2)

HR - ETSU - Paul Hoilman (1); Derek Trent (5)

GT - Tony Plagman (8) Jason Haniger (3)