JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 20, 2009) - The ETSU baseball team powered past Evansville on a chilly Friday afternoon at Cardinal Park, pounding out 17 hits in the win over the Purple Aces, 16-10.

"I was real proud of the way we came out today," said head coach Tony Skole. "It was tough day weather wise, but our guys played with great energy and passion. Offensively we were very productive and did some nice things. To not have any errors on a day like today is very impressive. I though Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) gave us a very good start. His first two innings were a little shaky, but then he settled down and gave up some momentum with three scoreless innings."

Senior Darren Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C.) earned the first win for the Bucs (1-0), as Caldwell threw 0.2 of an inning, striking out one and cooled off the Evansville bats.

The Purple Aces took the lead in the top of the first as Jim Viscomi scored on a double steal to go up 1-0.

The Bucs answered in the bottom of the first as Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) tripled down the right field line to score Jacob Fabry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) putting ETSU up 2-1. Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) added another run later in the inning as he brought in Mendez on a ball to second to make the score 3-1.

Evansville retook the lead, 4-3, in the top of the second after scoring three runs after a Tom Heithoff RBI triple, an Alex Acheson sacrifice fly, and a Viscomi home run.

ETSU tied things up in the bottom of the third as Reeder scored on a towering sac fly to right by Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.).

In the bottom of the fourth, with the bases loaded Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) drew a walk to bring in Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) to make the score 5-4. Fabry followed that up with single through the left side as Garret May (Roswell, Ga.) came in to score putting the Bucs up 6-4. Reeder brought in another run later in the inning driving in Ben Allen (Kingsport, Tenn.) on a fielder's choice to extend the ETSU lead to 7-4.

The Purple Aces cut into the Buccaneer lead in the top of the sixth as both Heithoff and Viscomi had RBI singles to make the score 7-6 ETSU.

In the top of the seventh, Evansville jumped back out in front 8-7 after an RBI grounder by Trentt Copeland and an RBI double by Peter Tountas.

The Bucs came storming back in the bottom of the seventh scoring four runs on a two-run double to right field by Petro, and a two-run blast by May to put ETSU back up, 11-8.

ETSU added some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as Petro doubled down the left field line this time driving in two more runs to make the score 13-8. In the next at bat Trent came in to score on an Evansville error to increase the lead to 14-8. Allen then drove in Petro on a sac fly to center, and Scruggs closed out the scoring with an RBI double to right bringing in May to make the score 16-8 Bucs.

Evansville scored a couple in the top of the ninth on a Cody Flick two-run home run, but it was not enough as Dustin Plumlee (Powell, Tenn.) closed out the game to pick up his first save of the season.

Petro led the team offensively going 4-for-5 with three doubles, scored three runs and drove in four. Seven of the nine starters for the Bucs had multiple hits, while all nine starters had at least one RBI.

ETSU is back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. as the Bucs take on Evansville in game two of the three-game series.

Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

ETSU 16, Evansville 10 (Feb. 20, 2009 at Johnson City, Tenn.)
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UE…...........130  003  202   -  10  15  3  (0-1)

ETSU..........301  300  45x   -  16  17  0  (1-0)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne; Ben Andrews (6); Darren Caldwell (7); Dustin Plumlee (8)
UE - John Foley; J.R. Carbonell (4); Jared Baehl (7);

Win - Darren Caldwell (1-0) Loss - J.R. Carbonell (0-1) Save - Dustin Plumlee (1)  

HR - ETSU - Garrett May (1)

UE - Jim Viscomi (1)