Wednesday, April 28, 2010

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 28, 2010) - A walk-off single by freshman Michael Gonzalez (Jupiter, Fla.) propelled the ETSU baseball team to a 8-7 win over Tennessee Tech Wednesday night at Cardinal Park.

 

Junior Bo Burton (Kingsport, Tenn.) earned the win for the Bucs (22-18, 11-7 A-Sun) throwing four hitless innings of relief and striking out six to close out the game.

 

Ryan Hopkins was tabbed with the loss for the Golden Eagles (20-21, 6-5 OVC) surrendering a run on two hits in 2.2 innings of work.

 

First baseman Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) and right fielder Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) led the way offensively for the Buccaneers. Hoilman was 2-for-4 with a double, home run, three walks, scored twice and drove in three, while Green had a team-best four hits and scored twice with an RBI.

 

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI double by Chad Oberacker and a two-run double by Casanova Donaldson.

 

ETSU answered in the bottom half scoring three runs on four hits to tie the game at 3-all. After singles by Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Green, Hoilman doubled to right center scoring Scruggs and Green. Later in the inning, Hoilman came in to score on an infield single by third baseman Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.).

 

Oberacker's squeeze bunt in the fifth gave TTU a 4-3 lead as Austin Wulf came in to score from third.

 

Tennessee Tech extended its lead to 6-3 in the sixth on RBI singles by Chad Hayes and Wulf.

 

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Bucs cut the Golden Eagle lead to 6-5 after an RBI single by Green and a sac fly to left by catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.).

 

TTU got a run back in the top of the seventh as A.J. Kirby-Jones crushed a solo home run to right center to make the score 7-5.

 

Hoilman answered in the eighth cutting the Tennessee Tech lead to 7-6 as he crushed his 17^th home run of the season well over the fence in center. The home run gave Hoilman 175 career RBI which ties Blake Church for the school record.

 

The Bucs were down to their last out in the ninth when sophomore Garrett May (Marietta, Ga.) hammered a 1-1 pitch from the TTU closer Stephen Pryor over the fence in left to tie the game at 7-all.

 

Neither team could scratch across a run until the 13^th inning as the Buccaneers loaded the bases with two outs for Gonzalez. Gonzalez roped a 3-2 fastball into the gap in right center scoring Green to win the game.

 

The Bucs are back in action Friday at 7 p.m. as they host Stetson in the first game of an important conference series. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

 

 

ETSU 8, Tennessee Tech 7 (13 innings)(April 28, 2010 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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TTU............... 300  012  100  000  0         -       8      16   3              (20-21, 6-5 OVC)

ETSU............ 300  002  011  000  1         -       9      12   0              (23-18, 11-7 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Drew Story ; Joseph Timp (3); Lee Hall (5); Scott McNally (6); Kerry Doane (7); Bo Burton (10)

TTU -  Matthew Shepherd; Chad Oberacker (4) A.J. Kirby-Jones (6); Nick Price (6) Stephen Pryor (8); Chason Choate (10); Ryan Hopkins (11)

Win - Bo Burton (4-4) Loss - Ryan Hopkins (3-3)    

HR - ETSU - Paul Hoilman (17); Garrett May (5)

TTU - A.J. Kirby-Jones (19)