Loyd struck out 15 over seven innings

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Mar. 25, 2022) – It was an immaculate outing for Hunter Loyd (Knoxville, Tenn.).

The Blue & Gold took the first of three games at Thomas Stadium 12-4 against George Washington behind a career-high 15 strikeouts from Loyd. Loyd’s 15 strikeouts are the most by a pitcher since Landon Knack’s record-breaking 16 strikeout performance against Wagner two years ago.

Back in the weekend rotation, Loyd started the afternoon with one of the rarer single-inning performances across all of baseball. In the first inning, Loyd struck out all three batters on nine pitches with nine strikes, an immaculate inning. #10 Virginia’s Brian Gursky held the most recent immaculate inning, occurring in the second inning on Feb. 26 in their game against Cornell.

Loyd got his offensive support in the second inning, ignited by a leadoff home run from Cam Norgren (Cary, N.C.), his team-leading seventh of the season. Leo Jiminian (Saint-Lo, France) and Ryan McCarthy (Knoxville, Tenn.) put up back-to-back singles with two away as Garett Wallace (Sanford, Fla.) ripped a two-RBI base knock into left to put the Bucs up early.

After Loyd picked up his eighth strikeout in just three innings, the Bucs got going again in the following inning. Ashton King (Knoxville, Tenn.), Bryce Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.), and Norgren juiced the bases with one away on a pair of free passes and an error, and Noah Webb (Kodak, Tenn.) brought two in on double down the line. Jiminian, McCarthy, and Wallace each would record an RBI themselves to increase the Bucs’ lead to eight.

Loyd punched out three in his final inning of work and six in his final three, just one-under the program record. Loyd is one of four pitchers this season to record 15 strikeouts, the second-most in college baseball this season. Loyd has three outings on the season with at least 10 strikeouts, two of which were only five innings.

The Colonials scored in the sixth on a two-run homer and the seventh on a solo shot. Loyd’s afternoon ended after seven innings of work as Walker Trusley (Knoxville, Tenn.) closed out the night.

In their final offensive inning, the Bucs continued to keep their foot on the gas pedal, plating three to make it ten double-digit run games, the same amount recorded in all of 2019. The Bucs have plated at least ten runs in more than half of their games this season, scoring double-digit runs in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season.

Loyd and Trusley combined for 17 strikeouts, tied for most this season by the Blue & Gold (Feb. 20 vs. Northern Kentucky).

Pitchers of Record

• Win: Hunter Loyd 3-0
• Loss: Harrison Cohen 3-3
• Save: N/A

Game Leaders

ETSU

• Webb | 3-for-5, HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 2 R
• Norgren | 2-for-4, HR, 2 R
• Wallace | 1-for-3, 3 RBI
• Hodge | 2-for-5, RBI, 2 R
• Loyd | 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 15 K, 100 P

GW

• Ditomaso | 3-for-5, HR, 2B, 3 RBI
• Levin | 2-for-4, HR
• Kahler | 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 46 P 

Notables

• Loyd’s 15 strikeouts puts him at a team-leading 46 on the season.
• With Norgren’s seventh home run, the switch-hitting slugger has blasted three home runs in his last five games.
• Webb’s three-hit game is his second of the season, becoming the fourth Buccaneer this season to drive in at least five runs in a game.
• After going 2-for-5, Hodge goes into tomorrow riding a six-game hit streak while reaching base safely in his last eight. Hodge leads the team with a .373 batting average.
• Trusley hasn’t allowed an earned run in 5.1 innings pitched on the season with four relief appearances.
• In ETSU’s ten double-digit run games, the Bucs have allowed more than five runs just two of those.
• Tonight’s win marks the second program win in two meetings against the Colonials, with the first meeting dating back to 1983.

Record Update

• ETSU: 14-5
• GW: 10-11

Up Next

The two squads will be at it again tomorrow afternoon at Thomas Stadium with first pitch at 2:00 p.m. The game will be streaming on ESPN+.

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