Saturday, March 21, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 21, 2009) - The ETSU baseball team took both games of a doubleheader against Campbell on Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Park. The Bucs powered their way with a record tying six home runs and a cycle performance from freshman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.)  in the first game to win 21-11 in 7 innings and got three more home runs including a grand slam in the second game to sweep the day, 9-3.

The Bucs (9-10, 3-6 A-Sun) came into the series hitting .266 as a team and improved to .302 on the season after out hitting the Camels 23-13 in game one and 13-8 in game two pounding out 20 extra base hits on the day.

In the first game, Ryan Hamme put the Camles on the board in the top of the first as he singled in a run to take a 1-0 lead. Campbell added two more runs in the inning on an Alex Aycoth sac fly and a Josh Holskey RBI single to make the score 3-0, Camels.

Campbell got three more runs in the top of the second on an Ellis Lowe single to right, a Hamme single up the middle and Hamme stole home to take a 6-0 lead.

Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) answered for the Bucs in the bottom of the second as he doubled to right center scoring Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) to cut the Campbell lead to 6-1. Garrett May (Roswell, Ga.) put another run on the board for the Bucs later in the inning as he singled in Petro driving a ball back up the middle to make the score 6-2.

In the top of the fourth, Campbell scored three more runs as Aycoth and Bryan Braswell walked and Holskey drove in a run on a grounder to short to increase the lead to 9-2.

ETSU answered in the bottom of the fourth as May hit a two-run home run over the fence in right center to cut the Camel led to 9-4. Later in the inning the Bucs added three more runs as Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) singled to right center scoring Cory Betterson (Atlanta, Ga.) and Reeder crushed a two run home run over the fence in right center to make the score 9-7, Campbell.

The Bucs jumped out in front in the bottom of the fifth as ETSU scored six runs on seven hits including a three-run home run to right center by Mendez and an RBI double by Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) to take a 13-9 lead.

Campbell cut into the ETSU lead as the Camels scored two runs on RBI singles by D.J. Johnson and Braswell to make the score 13-11.

ETSU exploded for eight runs on six hits in the bottom of the six as the Buccaneers took a commanding 21-11 lead as the Bucs hit three home runs and a triple in the inning.

Darren Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C.) shut down the Campbell offense in the top of the seventh as he picked up his third win of the season throwing 1.2 innings allowing no and no hits and struck out one.

In the second game, Mendez put the Bucs up early a he homered to right, his second of the day, to put ETSU up 1-0 after one inning.

Zach Johnson tied the game at 1-all in the top of the fourth as he homered to right.

Campbell took the lead in the top of the fifth as Matt Keen hit a two-run home run to left to give the Camels a 3-1 lead.

Petro cut into the Campbell lead in the bottom of the fifth as he double to right center to bring in Trent to make score 3-2.

Mendez came around to score in the bottom of the sixth inning on a errant throw to second by the Camel pitcher to tie the score, 3-3.

The Bucs jumped back out in front in the bottom of the seventh as May crushed his second home run of the day over the fence in left to score to run and put ETSU up 5-3.

Petro added some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as he hit a grand slam off of the foul poll in left to extend the Bucs lead to 9-3.

Caldwell again pitched well for the Bucs as he threw the last four innings of the game for the Bucs allowing no runs on one hit earning his second win of the day and his fourth win of the season.

Offensively for the Bucs Reeder and Petro led the way as Reeder was 7-for-9 on the day, hit for the cycle in game one and drove in three runs, while Petro was 6-for-8 in the two games with three home runs and drove in nine runs.

The Bucs are back in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. as they host UNC Asheville at Cardinal Park. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

Game 1: ETSU 21, Campbell 11 (7 innings) (March 21, 2009 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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CU................. 330  302  0        - 11   13     1   (11-8, 2-5 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 020  568  x        - 21   23     2   (8-10, 2-6 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Josh Gonzaga; Drew Story (4); Bo Burton (5); Darren Caldwell (6)

CU - Jeff Rydman; Jonathon Lopez (5); Logan Davis (5)
Win - Darren Caldwell (3-0) Loss - Jonathon Lopez (1-3)

HR - ETSU - Bo Reeder (7); Garrett May (2); Troy Mendez (2); Danny Petro 2(3); Paul Hoilman (3)

Game 2:ETSU 9, Campbell 3 (March 21, 2009 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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CU................. 000  120  000  -  3      8      1   (11-9, 2-6 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 100  011  24x    -  9    13     1   (9-10, 3-6 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Dustin Plumlee; Darren Caldwell (6)

CU - Ryan Hamme
Win - Darren Caldwell (4-0) Loss - Ryan Hamme (2-2)

HR - ETSU - Troy Mendez (3); Garrett May (3); Danny Petro (4)

CU - Zach Johnson (5); Matt Keen (2)