Saturday, April 16, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Apr. 16, 2005) - The Wofford offense erupted for 10 runs between the fourth and seventh innings en route to a 13-5 victory over East Tennessee State in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn.

            ETSU (19-11, 8-9 SoCon) took the lead with a run in the bottom of the second on a solo homer by junior first baseman Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.), his third of the season.

            Wofford (14-24, 4-13 SoCon) took the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth. Jesse Cole led off the inning with a solo home run over the left field wall. With two outs and the bases loaded, Anthony DiNardo walked to force in Ben Austin from third.

            The Terriers struck again with two runs in the top of the fifth. With one out, Cole hit a single to left field. Brandon Waring then followed with a two-run homer deep over the right-center field fence.

            Wofford put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh. After the Terriers loaded the bases again in the sixth, Stephen Johnson and Shane Kirkley had back-to-back walks to drive in runs. Cole then continued his stellar afternoon with an RBI single to left field.

            In the top of the seventh, Austin led off with a single up the middle, and moved to third on a one-out single by Zach Pittman. DiNardo then hit into a fielder's choice and advanced to second on an error, allowing Austin to score and Pittman to advance to third. Johnson then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Pittman and Kirkley doubled off the left field wall to bring in DiNardo.

            The Bucs plated one run in both the sixth and seventh innings. Junior left fielder Josiah Glafenhein (Knoxville, Tenn.), senior second baseman Nick Crowe (Johnson City, Tenn.) and junior right fielder Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) all hit singles to start the sixth, loading the bases with no outs. But Terrier ace Austin Redwine was able to retire each of the next three batters, with the only run of the frame coming as Glafenhein hustled home on a wild pitch.

            In the bottom of the seventh, Church led off with a double to left and later scored on an RBI single by freshman third baseman Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.).

            The Terriers scored their final three runs in the top of the ninth as Johnson belted a three-run homer to left.

            ETSU put two run on the board in the bottom of the ninth as Byrne laced a two-run triple to the left-center field gap.

            Redwine earned his seventh win of the season (7-4), going 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits. He also walked two and struck out three.

            ETSU junior lefty Brian Lovett (Knoxville, Tenn.) was charged with the loss (3-3), as he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Lovett also walked four and struck out three.

            The Bucs were led offensively by Crowe, who went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Church was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI while Byrne was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

            Pittman went 4-for-5 with two runs scored for the Terriers while Cole was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs in the win. Johnson had five RBIs while DiNardo scored three runs.       

            The Bucs and Terriers play the series finale tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn.