SPARTANBURG, S.C. (April 17, 2009) - A stellar outing by sophomore Chas Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) lifted the ETSU baseball team to a 4-2 win over USC Upstate Friday night at Harley Park in Spartanburg, S.C.

The Bucs improve to 16-19 overall and 7-12 in league play with the win, while USC Upstate falls to 10-26 on the year and 3-16 in conference.

Byrne picked up a complete game win as he limited the Spartans to two runs on eight hits and had a career high nine strikeouts to improve to 4-2 on the season.

USC Upstate starter Matt Branham was tabbed with the loss as he went 6.0 innings allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits to fall to 0-3 on the year.

Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Troy Mendez (Roswell, Ga.) led ETSU offensively as Trent was 2-for-4 with two doubles and scored a run. Mendez led all Buccaneers with two RBI in the game.

ETSU took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) came in to score on an error by the Spartan third baseman Jeff Medley.

Catcher Danny Petro (Atlanta, Ga.) added another run for ETSU in the top of the fourth as he singled through the left side of the infield scoring Trent from second to make the score 2-0.

The Bucs added two more runs in the top of the fifth as Mendez went deep for the eighth time on the year as he drove a two-run home run over the fence in right to give ETSU a 4-0 advantage.

The Spartans got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Kyle Simpson singled in a run to cut the Buccaneer lead to 4-1.

Phillip Morgan cut into the Buccaneer lead in the bottom of the eighth as he doubled in a run to bring the score to 4-2.

The Bucs are back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. as they take on USC Upstate in a doubleheader at Harley Park in Spartanburg, S.C. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news.

ETSU 4, USC Upstate 2 (April 17, 2009 at Spartanburg, S.C.)
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ETSU............ 010  120  000   -  4      8      0   (16-19, 7-12 A-Sun)

USCU........... 000  010  010   -  2      8      1   (10-26, 3-16 A-Sun)

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Pitchers: ETSU - Chas Byrne

USCU - Matt Branham; Tim Fournier (7)

Win - Chas Byrne (4-2) Loss - Matt Branham (0-3)

Home Runs - ETSU - Troy Mendez (8)