Friday’s opener set to begin at 3 p.m.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 9, 2023) – After winning the first two weekend sets at Thomas Stadium this season, the ETSU baseball team will look to add a third as Winthrop comes to Johnson City this weekend for a three-game series, starting on Friday, March 10 at 3 p.m.

Saturday’s matchup is scheduled for 2 p.m. The series finale is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.

ETSU has a 5-2 record at home so far with a pair of wins over Toledo and Marist, as well as a midweek victory over a previously-undefeated Appalachian State squad that entered with a 7-0 record.

GAMEDAY INFO

March 10-12 — East Tennessee State vs. Winthrop

Location: Johnson City, Tenn.

Venue: Thomas Stadium

Tickets: ETSUTickets.com

Gameday Promotions: “Freedom Friday” – Free ticket for all first responders, active and former military.

Presenting Game Sponsor: Technically Aesthetic General Contractors

PROBABLE STARTERS

Game 1 — Friday at 3:00 p.m.

ETSU: RHP #2 Nathanial Tate

WINT: RHP #37 Alex Logusch

Game 2 — Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

ETSU: LHP #7 Austin Emener

WINT: RHP #25 Dyson Johnson

Game 3 — Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

ETSU: RHP #26 Landon Smiddy

WINT: TBA

FOLLOW ALONG

Game 1: LIVE STATS

Game 2: LIVE STATS

Game 3: LIVE STATS

Follow on Twitter: @ETSU_Baseball

ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU enters with an even 6-6 record to start the season.

• The Bucs are 5-2 at home and have won four of the last six games.

• ETSU’s last outing was a 4-1 loss at Clemson on Tuesday. The Bucs used seven pitchers and finished with just six hits allowed and seven strikeouts.

• This past weekend, ETSU took two of three games from Marist — winning on Friday and Sunday. The Bucs are 7-3 all time against Marist — including a 3-0 record over three series (2011, 2013, 2023) and a 1-0 midweek record (2020).

• This season ETSU will face four teams that qualified for last season’s NCAA D1 Baseball Championship, including three that hosted regionals — Virginia Tech, Georgia Southern and Oklahoma State. The other is reigning SoCon champion UNCG.

• Last year, ETSU had a 12-4 record in March games.

• Through 11 games, ETSU is batting .296 as a team while limiting opponents to .257.

• The Bucs have 24 returners and 15 newcomers on this year’s roster, including six returning starters.

• The pitching staff is led by Nathanial Tate (Manchester, Tenn.), who owns a 2.25 ERA in 16.0 IP pitched over four starts. The senior twirled 7.0 shutout innings over wins against App State and Marist, allowing just two hits all weekend and three base runners all weekend. He will start on Friday and is the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week.

• Sophomore outfielder Tommy Barth (Brecksville, Ohio), a 2022 Freshman All-American, has reached base safely in 54 of his 59 career games so far, including hits in nine of the first 12 games this season. He also leads the Bucs with 18 hits, five doubles and 23 total bases.

• Last season, ETSU had two Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-Americans in Barth and rising sophomore pitcher Andrew Ronne (Athens, Tenn.). Ronne was also named to the Preseason NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List for this season.

• Junior transfer Cameron Sisneros (Littleton, Colo.) leads the way with a .333 batting average (15-for-45) with four doubles, a homer and nine RBIs.

• Graduate catcher Marshall Awtry (Wilmington, Del.) has been the team’s primary catcher as of later, leading the Bucs with four homers in 10 appearances.

• In the preseason polls, ETSU was picked to finish fifth in both the coaches and media polls. Last season, the Bucs finished fifth with an 11-10 record, but was only one game back of three other teams tied for second at 12-9.

ABOUT THE EAGLES

• Winthrop enters with a 7-6 record, coming off an 8-0 loss to Wofford on Tuesday.

• Winthrop was picked to finish ninth in the Big South Conference this preseason. The Eagles finished the 2022 season with an 18-34 overall record and an 11-13 record in the Big South.

• The Eagles welcome back 18 players, nine starters and 16 newcomers.

• Senior pitcher Dyson Johnson — Saturday’s projected starter — leads the Eagles with 16.2 innings pitched, a 1-0 record and a 2.70 ERA in three starts. Another key pitcher is freshman righty Zan Rose with a 2-0 record and a 0.96 ERA in four appearances and 9.1 innings.

• Senior catcher/outfielder Ty Hooks leads the Eagles with a .359 batting average, while utility player Brody Hopkins is batting .250 with nine hits, two homers, a team-high 12 RBIs and a team-high six stolen bases on seven attempts.

• The Eagles are led by head coach Tom Riginos, who is in his 13th season at Winthrop. He currently owns a 308-326 overall record at Winthrop and a 151-136 mark in Big South play.

SERIES HISTORY

• ETSU and Winthrop have met 17 times. Winthrop leads the all-time series 10-7.

• Last season, ETSU and Winthrop met for a three-game set in Rock Hill, N.C. and the Bucs won two of three. The Eagles opened the series with a 7-6 win, but ETSU stormed back and won 6-5 and 5-3 in the final two matchups.

• In the last meeting — last year’s series finale — junior outfielder Jackson Green (Blackwood, N.J.) hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to propel ETSU to a 5-3 win.

• The last series between the two in Johnson City took place in 2018 — the first season under Coach Joe Pennucci —as ETSU swept the Eagles with 8-4, 7-3 and 10-5 wins. This marked the first series sweep of the Pennucci Era. Over the last five seasons, ETSU has compiled 14 three-game sweeps.

• Winthrop’s last win at Thomas Stadium took place in 2016 — a 2-1 final.

• Ten of the 17 meetings have been decided by three runs or less.

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