Pratt powers ETSU Baseball to sweep of Ospreys, 9-7
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dylan Pratt
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 13, 2011) - Junior Dylan Pratt's (Johnson City, Tenn.) heroics in the ninth inning lifted the ETSU baseball team to a 9-7 win over North Florida Sunday afternoon at Harmon Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. as the Bucs completed the sweep of UNF.
Sophomore Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) picked up the win to improve to 1-0 on the season as the Bucs (10-2, 4-0 A-Sun) have won six straight contests, while Robbie Collier was tabbed with the loss for North Florida (7-8, 1-5 A-Sun).
The Buccaneers out-hit UNF 13-11 in the game as the Bucs had four players with multi-hit games including a 3-for-5 effort by right fielder Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.).
The Ospreys broke into the scoring column in the bottom of the fifth as UNF scored five runs on four hits highlighted by a three-run home run by Michael Wesner to take a 5-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Bucs answered with four runs of their own to cut the lead to 5-4. Catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) singled in Bo Reeder (Cookeville, Tenn.) to start the scoring. A few batters later, Pratt came in to score on a ball hit to short by Green. Doane and Derek Niesman (Wellington, Fla.) rounded out the scoring with back-to-back RBI singles to right.
ETSU grabbed the lead in the top of the seventh as centerfielder Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Reeder came around to score on three UNF errors to give the Buccaneers a 6-5 advantage.
North Florida answered through in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run home run by first baseman Evan Stermer to go back in front 7-6.
In the top of the ninth, Reeder and Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) led off the inning with an infield single and walk. In the next at bat, with no outs and runners on first and second Pratt delivered his fourth home run of the season as he crushed a three-run homer to center to give the Bucs their second lead of the day.
Reeder then came in to close out game for the third straight day as he earned his seventh save on the year and third on the weekend.
ETSU returns to action on Tuesday at 4 p.m. as the Bucs head to Radford, Va. to face the Highlanders in a non-conference game. For more information on ETSU baseball and all other Buccaneer athletic news please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.
