Friday, March 04, 2005

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Mar. 4, 2005) - The East Tennessee State Baseball team won their seventh-consecutive game to begin the 2005 season, defeating West Virginia, 7-4 Friday afternoon from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn.

            The Bucs (7-0) took the early lead in the bottom of the first as junior outfielder Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) hit a one-out solo home run over the right field wall.

            West Virginia (2-6) answered in the top of the third, scoring a run to tie the game. David Carpenter reached on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Casey Bowling. Carpenter crossed the plate as Tyler Kuhn hit a sacrifice fly to center.

            ETSU took the lead for good in the bottom of the third, putting two runs on the board. Senior second baseman Nick Crowe (Johnson City, Tenn.) led off the inning with a double down the right field line. With one out, senior catcher Caleb Moore (Knoxville, Tenn.) belted a two-run homer over the right-center field wall.

            The Bucs added a run to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Byrne led off the inning with a double to right-center, then advanced to third on a ground out by Moore. After a walk by junior first baseman Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.), sophomore left fielder Stephen Douglas (Kennesaw, Ga.) singled to right to score Byrne.

            The Mountaineers cut into the Buccaneer lead with a run in the top of the sixth. Michael Burger hit a one-out single to center, then came home as Justin Jenkins doubled to center.

            ETSU responded immediately with another run in the bottom of the sixth. Junior designated hitter Josiah Glafenhein (Knoxville, Tenn.) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He advanced to second on a sac bunt by junior shortstop Chuck Hargis (Powell, Tenn.) and moved to third on an infield single by Byrne. A balk was then called on WVU pitcher Marty Fagler, allowing Glafenhein to cross the plate.

            The two teams traded runs over the next two innings as both the Bucs and Mountaineers scored single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

            For the Bucs, junior third baseman Greg Roberts (Douglas, Ga.) hit an RBI double in the seventh and Crowe hit his second home run of the season in the eighth, a solo blast to right. WVU scored on a Lee Fritz RBI single in the seventh and a Chad McKown solo home run in the eighth.

            Buccaneer junior righty Jeremy Hall (Gray, Tenn.) had his third-consecutive strong outing, going eight innings for the win (2-0). Hall allowed three earned runs on nine hits while striking out four and walking none for the second-straight start.

            "Jeremy gave us a great performance on a difficult day to pitch," said ETSU head coach Tony Skole following the game.

Moore pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the season.

            Mark Wyner was charged with the loss (0-1) for West Virginia after allowing three earned runs on four hits in four innings of work. He also walked two and struck out three on the afternoon.

            The Bucs were led by Byrne, who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Crowe went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.

            "Shane (Byrne) and Nick (Crowe) had great days at the plate, giving us some big hits," commented Skole.

            West Virginia was paced by Fritz, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Jenkins, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

            "The Mountaineers are a talented team," said Skole. "We made some mistakes today, and we were fortunate to win."