Saturday, March 06, 2010

(March 6, 2010) - The ETSU baseball team jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning and didn't look back as the Bucs went on to knock off 30^th ranked St. John's 11-7 Saturday at Cardinal Park.

 

"It was a great win for our ball club after a disappointing opening game of the series,' said head coach Tony Skole. "I just didn't think that we played well on Friday. I am really proud of how we came out with a lot of passion today, and scored early with some big hits. We got a solid start from Ben Booker, and once again our bullpen was good at the end of the game.

 

Junior Ben Booker (Knoxville, Tenn.) picked up his first win of the season for the Bucs (7-2) going 5.0 innings allowing five runs on ten hits.

 

Nick Cenatiempo was tabbed with the loss for St. John's (7-1) after giving up eight runs on five hits in 2.0 innings of work.

 

First baseman Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) and freshman second baseman Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) led the way offensively for the Buccaneers as Hoilman was 1-for-2 with a home run, three walks, scored twice and drove in three, while Doane was 1-for-3 with a home run, two walks, scored twice and had three RBI.

 

"It was a good win against a very good St. John's team," Skole said. "We are definitely going to have a challenge tomorrow, and again I can't be more proud of the way our guys played today."

 

The Red Storm jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Jimmy Parque came in to score on a ball hit to short by first baseman Paul Karmas.

 

ETSU answered in the bottom of the first scoring five runs on four hits highlighted by a three-run home run by Hoilman and a two-run home run by Doane to give the Bucs a 5-1 lead.

 

STJ cut the ETSU lead to 5-3 in the top of the second. After an RBI double by Matt Wessinger, centerfielder Scott Ferrara doubled to left to score Wessinger.

 

After loading the bases in the bottom of the third, Doane drew a walk to increase the ETSU lead to 6-3. The Bucs added two more runs in the inning as right fielder Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) singled up the middle scoring catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) and third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) to make the score 8-5 Buccaneers.

 

The Bucs added three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run double down the left field line by freshman Alex Reynolds (Johnson City, Tenn.) and a RBI double by centerfielder Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) to put ETSU ahead 11-5.

 

St. John's scratched across a couple runs late in the game on a sacrifice fly by Josh Daniel in the eighth and on a ball hit to second in the ninth to make the final 11-7.

 

Freshman Scott McNally (Marietta, Ga.) had another good outing in relief for ETSU throwing 3.0 innings allowing only one run on one hit with one strikeout and two walks.

 

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the rubber game of the series with the Red Storm. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

 

 

ETSU 11, No. 30 St. John's 7 (March 6, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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SJU............... 120  020  011      -      7    13  1  (7-1)

ETSU............ 503  000  30x    - 11     9      1   (7-2)

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

SJU - Nick Cenatiempo; Sean Hagan (3); Stephen Rivera (6); Ryan Cole (7); Anthony Cervone (9)

Win - Ben Booker (1-0) Loss - Nick Cenatiempo (0-1)

HR - ETSU - Paul Hoilman (3); Kerry Doane (1)