JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (May 3, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team defeated Maryland Eastern Shore on a wet Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn., 23-6.

ETSU (17-31, 9-18) out hit the Hawks 20-8 as the Bucs pounded out ten extra base hits. Starter Brandon Langston (Ringgold, Ga.) threw five scoreless innings for the Bucs as he surrendered only one hit and struck out three.

The Bucs got on the board in the bottom of the first as Chris Rankhorn (Gallatin, Tenn.) doubled to right scoring Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) from first to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead. In the next at bat, Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) also doubled as he drove a ball to right center easily scoring Rankhorn to make the score 2-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, senior Matt McGahey (Jonesborough, Tenn.) crushed a ball that just caught the right field foul pole for a three-run home run to give the Bucs a 5-0 lead. In the same inning Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) hit his 13^th home run of the year as he sent a three-run shot over the fence in left center to make the score 8-0. In the next at bat Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) blasted the third home run of the inning for the Bucs as he sent a ball over the fence in left to give the Bucs a 9-0 lead.

The Bucs added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Hawks error as McGahey would score from second to make the score 10-0.

Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) added to the ETSU lead in the bottom of the sixth as he doubled to the center field fence driving in Petro from first to give the Bucs a 11-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Bucs scored five more runs on an RBI single by Petro and a grand slam by Allen to make the score 16-0.

The Hawks got on the board in the top of the eighth as Jorge Pichardo doubled to left center driving in two runs to make the score 16-2. Later in the inning Mike Guy singled to right to score another run to cut the ETSU lead to 16-3.

The Bucs scored seven more runs in the bottom of the eighth on RBI hits by Hoilman and Allen, a three-run home run by Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) and a RBI walk by Petro to make the score 23-3.

UMES scored three more runs in the top of the ninth on RBI doubles by Russel Deutschmann, Remo Orsini and Josh Dunham to make the final 23-6.

With five home runs in the game the Bucs tied the school single season record with 69 home runs on the year. Allen led the team with seven RBI on the day as he was 4-for-6 with a double and a home run. Fabry and Mendez each had three hits for the Bucs.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow as will take on Maryland Eastern Shore at noon at Cardinal Park in the final game of the series.

ETSU 23, Maryland-Eastern Shore 6 (May 3, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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UMES.........000  000  033   -  6    8    7   (5-41, 4-12 MEAC)

ETSU..........200  711  57x   -  23  20  2   (17-31, 9-18 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Brandon Langston; Matt McGahey (6); Bo Burton (7); Jimmy Tidwell (8); Drew Story (9)
UMES - Elliot Arrington; Jervonta' Wright  (7); Brian White (7); Josh Dunham (8)

Win - Brandon Langston (3-7) Loss - Elliot Arrington (1-6)

HR - ETSU - Matt McGahey (1); Derek Trent (13); Danny Petro (3); Ben Allen (4); Troy Mendez (8)