Bucs close out final home non-conference weekend against Colonials

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Mar. 24, 2022) – The Bucs are back at Thomas Stadium this weekend, welcoming the George Washington Colonials for a three-game series.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and the finale on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. All games will be streaming on ESPN+.

Records: ETSU (13-5, 0-0 SoCon) | George Washington (10-10, 0-0 A-10)

Twitter Updates: @ETSU_Baseball

Weather Forecast: Friday (low-40s, cloudy,) | Saturday (mid-40s, cloudy) | Sunday (low-50s, mostly sunny)

Game 1: Friday, Mar. 25 | 6:00 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+

Probable Starters:

East Tennessee State – RHP Zach Kirby (2-0 | 1.69 ERA | 26.2 IP | 24 K | 8 BB)

George Washington – RHP Harrison Cohen (3-2 | 3.99 ERA | 29.1 IP | 32 K | 11 BB)

Game 2: Saturday, Mar. 26 | 2:00 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+

Probable Starters:

East Tennessee State – LHP Colby Stuart (3-0 | 5.25 ERA | 24.0 IP | 20 K | 9 BB)

George Washington – RHP Connor Harris (1-4 | 5.40 ERA | 31.2 IP | 17 K | 6 BB)

Game 3: Sunday, Mar. 27 | 1:00 p.m. | Live Stats | ESPN+

Probable Starters:

East Tennessee State – RHP Hunter Loyd (2-0 | 0.79 ERA | 22.2 IP | 31 K | 7 BB)

George Washington – RHP Justin Solt (2-2 | 4.50 ERA | 22.0 IP | 21 K | 12 BB)

ETSU QUICK HITTERS

• Despite dropping two of three to Tennessee Tech, the Bucs are 13-5 this season and have won eight of their last ten games.
• Stepping in on Sunday, Landon Smiddy (Knoxville, Tenn.) delivered a phenomenal performance that generated his first win of the season and the first quality start of his career in the Blue & Gold. Smiddy’s previous longest outing was 4.1 relief innings in 2020 against Toledo.
• Sunday saw the ninth double-digit run game of the season, over doubled the amount of last year. ETSU’s 8.5 runs per game ranks 22^nd in the nation, second in the conference behind Mercer.
• The bottom half of ETSU’s batting lineup has seen incredible production thus far, specifically from Garett Wallace (Sanford, Fla.). Wallace, transferring in from College of Central Florida and USC-Upstate, leads the team with 22 RBIs and places 33^rd in the country in RBIs per game (1.36).
• Despite not pitching on Sunday, Hunter Loyd (Knoxville, Tenn.) has been dominant to start the season, holding a 0.79 ERA through four starts equates to sitting tenth in the country in that category. Loyd leads the conference with a 0.79 WHIP.
• Another instant-impact transfer for the Bucs has been the bat of Cam Norgren (Cary, N.C.), who leads the team in home runs (6). Norgren, the switch-hitting graduate transfer, has hit three home runs from both sides of the plate.
• Bryce Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) enters this weekend with 23 hits, the most on the team, and 16 runs, sharing the team lead with Norgren, Noah Webb (Kodak, Tenn.), and Ashton King (Knoxville, Tenn.).
• After hosting a Tennessee Tech team that collectively batted over .330, the Bucs held the Golden Eagles to a .254 average over three games. Despite taking two of three, the Bucs out-hit (30 to 29), out-scored (22-17), and struck out less (24 to 32). Additionally, the Bucs batted .288 on the weekend.
• In the Bucs’ five losses this season, the average run differential in those games is less than two runs (1.6 runs per game).
• The Bucs lost back-to-back extra-inning games last weekend for the first time since 2018.

ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON

• George Washington sits 10-10 after a three-game sweep over Niagara last weekend. The Colonials have won all ten games in their last 14 contests, starting the season 0-6 with losses to UT Rio Grande Valley and South Carolina. All ten wins from George Washington have come at home.
• Entering the weekend, the Colonials have the second-most hits in the A-10 (190), tied with Davidson as they both trail the leader, Saint Joseph’s (197).
• Steve DiTomaso leads the Colonials in multiple hitting categories: batting average (.353), hits (30), total bases (39), and slugging (.459). DiTomaso and Cade Fergus are the lone two Colonials to start in all 20 games for George Washington to start the season.
• Trevor Kuncl, a graduate student for the Colonials, has made 11 appearances on the season, leading the conference and sitting 24^th in the country. Connor Harris, Saturday’s expected starting pitcher, is one of 15 pitchers in the country to have made six starts already this season.
• The Colonials were picked to finish seventh in the A-10 preseason poll.

HE’S WITH US NOW

Just a few months before the start of the season, Head Coach Joe Pennucci announced the addition of two coaches to his staff for the 2022 season: Nathan Fritz and Chad Marshall. Fritz comes after spending a season as the pitching coach at King University while Marshall has been the hitting coach at George Washington for the last three seasons.  

TICKET INFORMATION

Season tickets, single-game tickets, and flex pack ticket options are all currently available at ETSUtickets.comor by calling 423-439-3878. 

For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball page.