JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 16, 2008) - The ETSU baseball team beat Mercer for the first time in 32 years on Sunday afternoon at Cardinal Park as they spilt the doubleheader losing, 7-5, in the first game and winning the second game, 4-3.

ETSU (2-14, 2-7) was out hit on the day 19-16 by Mercer (9-8, 6-3), but overcame the early loss and took control of game two as the Bucs strung some hits together in the second game. Senior Anthony Russell (Waldorf, Md.), led the Bucs going 4-for-7 on the day with two doubles, two walks and a RBI.

Freshman Josh Means (Kennesaw, Ga.) had a great start for the Bucs as he went 6.1 innings giving up three runs on eight hits striking out two and walking two. Means held Mercer scoreless through six innings.

In game one, Mercer would take a 1-0 lead on Saturday off a RBI single by Tyler McCarty. The sky opened up in the bottom of the first and the game was suspended to Sunday. In the resumed game the Bucs tied things up in the bottom of the third on a solo shot to left by junior Nick Belcher (Abingdon, Va.).

Mercer scored again in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by John Dortch to take a 2-1 lead, but the Bucs came right back and tied it up again in the bottom of the fourth as Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) led off the inning with a solo home run.

The Bears jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the sixth when Billy Shaugnessy doubled in a run and Dortch had an RBI single, and would later score on a wild pitch. The Bucs cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Russell, but Mercer would score two more runs late in the game and took a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth.

ETSU rallied in the eighth and ninth innings to score two more runs on an RBI double by Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) and a grounder to short by Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) as Jimmy Tidwell (Acworth, Ga.) would come in to score.

In game two, ETSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Troy Mendez's (Roswell, Ga.) double scored Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.). In the fourth, the Bucs increased its lead to 3-0 as Petro scored again on a double by Hoilman and Mendez came around to score on a Bart Roark (Mountain City, Tenn.) sacrifice fly.

The Bears tied up the game in the top of the seventh on a two-run single by John Moreland and a sacrifice fly by Joe Winker. ETSU retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a Petro sacrifice fly as Belcher came in to score.

Junior Ben Andrews (Leesburg, Fla.) entered in relief to shut down the Bears going 2.2 innings giving up only one hit and picked up the win in game two.

Game 1: Mercer 7, ETSU 5 (March 16, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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MU.................100  103  110   -  7  10  0   (9-7, 6-2 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 001  101  011   -  5  9    2   (1-14, 1-7 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Ty Sarchet; Dustin Plumlee (7)
MU - Justin Boyette; Dan April (6); Michael Shaw (8); Josh Lowey (9)

Win - Justin Boyette (3-1) Loss -  Ty Sarchet (1-3)

HR - ETSU - Nick Belcher (3); Derek Trent (4)

Game 2: ETSU 4, Mercer 3 (March 16, 2008 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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MU.................000  000  300   -  3  9  3   (9-8, 6-3 A-Sun)

ETSU............ 010  200  10x   -  4  7  0   (2-14, 2-7 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Josh Means; Ben Andrews (7)
MU - Boone Webster; John Hoelzer; Justice French (8)

Win -  Ben Andrews (1-0) Loss -  John Heolzer (1-3)