Bucs and Bulldogs begin three-game set Friday at 5 p.m. 

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 23, 2023) – Southern Conference play officially gets underway for ETSU baseball this weekend, as the Bucs welcome Samford to Thomas Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday, March 23 at 5 p.m.

Saturday’s game is scheduled for 2 p.m., while Sunday’s finale is set to begin at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Keith Brake on the call, and live stats will be available free of charge. Tickets for all three games can be purchased at ETSUTickets.com.

GAMEDAY INFO

March 24-26— East Tennessee State vs. Samford

Location: Johnson City, Tenn.

Venue: Thomas Stadium

Tickets: ETSUTickets.com

Game Notes: Click Here

All Weekend Promotion: All fans that attend will receive a free Chick-fil-A Sandwich card.

Friday’s Promotion: “Freedom Friday” – Free ticket for all first responders, active and former military.

Sunday’s Promotion: “Family Funday Sunday” ­ — Children 12 and under receive free admission; Post-game “Run The Bases”

Presenting First Pitch: New ETSU men’s basketball head coach Brooks Savage — Friday at 4:45 p.m.

Presenting Game Sponsor: Family Eye Care Center

PROBABLE STARTERS

Game 1 — Friday at 5:00 p.m.

ETSU: RHP #26 Landon Smiddy

SAM: RHP #33 Jacob Cravey

Game 2 — Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

ETSU: LHP #7 Austin Emener

SAM: RHP #22 Brody Westbrooks

Game 3 — Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

ETSU: RHP #2 Nathanial Tate

SAM: RHP #34 Will Lynch

FOLLOW ALONG

Game 1: ESPN+ | LIVE STATS

Game 2: ESPN+ | LIVE STATS

Game 3: ESPN+ | LIVE STATS 

Follow on Twitter: @ETSU_Baseball

ABOUT THE BUCS

• ETSU has a 10-9 record following a 10-6 loss at UNC Asheville this past Tuesday.

• The Bucs have won four of their five weekend series so far, taking two of three from Toledo, Marist, Winthrop and Tennessee Tech, while dropping two of three against Georgia Southern in Stateboro — an NCAA Regional host site last season.

• The Bucs have a 7-3 record at Thomas Stadium this season. “The Thom” opened in 2012 and ETSU owns an all-time record of 198-121 at the stadium. Two wins this weekend would accomplish the 200 win milestone.

• ETSU is 5-0 in Sunday games this season, including Sunday’s 12-0 mercy rule win over Tennessee Tech. The Bucs outscored the Golden Eagles by 20 runs over the three-game series — 28-8.

• Through 19 games, ETSU is batting .296 as a team while limiting opponents to .249.

• For his performance Sunday, senior pitcher Nathanial Tate (Manchester, Tenn.) was named Southern Conference Player of the Week honors on Tuesday. Tate tossed 6.0 scoreless innings and has pitched 19.0 scoreless innings over the last four outings. He has a 1.29 ERA through 28.0 innings.

• The Buccaneer pitching staff owns a 4.02 team ERA with three players above 20.0 IP and below a 3.00 ERA — Tate, junior lefty Austin Emener (Macon, Ga.) and senior righty Colby Stuart (Elon, N.C.). All three players rank in the top five of the SoCon in ERA, led by Tate atop the league.

• Emener holds the rare distinction this season of throwing four strikeouts in one inning, with one of the four reaching on a wild pitch. This came in his ETSU debut against Toledo in the opening series.

• Sophomore outfielder Tommy Barth (Brecksville, Ohio), a 2022 Freshman All-American, has reached base safely in 61 of his 66 career games so far. He currently rides a seven-game hit streak into the weekend with six of the seven being multi-hit games.

• Barth leads the team with 10 doubles and 19 runs scored. His 10 doubles also led the SoCon and ranked sixth in the nation coming into the week. He is also the toughest player to strikeout in the conference — according to an NCAA metric — striking out just eight times in 84 at-bats so far.

• Senior outfielder Garett Wallace (Sanford, Fla.) and junior first baseman Cameron Sisneros (Littleton, Colo.) both have 22 hits so far this season, with Wallace leading the Bucs with 18 RBIs.

• Junior Nick Iannantone (Plainfield, Ill.) currently leads in batting average, hitting 15-for-34 so far in 13 games and 10 starts. In his last eight plate appearances, over the last three games, he has singled six times and walked twice.

• After scoring eight runs in the fourth inning against TTU on Sunday, ETSU is now outscoring opponents 22-9 in the fourth inning this season. The Bucs are also outscoring opponents 22-10 in the seventh inning.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS

• Samford — the second Bulldog on ETSU’s schedule this week — enters with an 11-10 record.

• The Bulldogs have won five straight games — all at home — defeating Columbia in midweek action, UT Martin with a three-game sweep and North Alabama this past Tuesday.

• Three Samford players have 20 or more hits this season, led by Jayden Davis with 23 hits. He went 3-for-4 in the last outing against UNA, hitting a double, a homer and four RBIs.

• Junior reliever Ben Petschke leads the SoCon in both saves (4) and relief appearances (11) this season. He is holding opposing hitters to a .234 batting average and owns a 3.94 ERA.

• Friday’s starter for Samford, Jacob Cravey, is the SoCon’s active career leader in ERA among players with over 100.0 innings pitched. His career ERA is 3.73, including a 3.45 ERA this season.

• The Bulldogs are led by second year head coach Tony David, who has an even 39-39 record since taking over the program. David previously served as an assistant at Samford for 17 seasons before taking the head job.

SERIES HISTORY

• ETSU has a slight 14-13 advantage in the all-time series with Samford.

• The Bucs won the first-ever meeting on March 9, 2005 with a 11-6 win in Johnson City. This would mark the only non-conference meeting between the two, as the other 26 meetings have all happened since ETSU rejoined the SoCon in 2015. Those games are split evenly with 13 wins for each team. 

• Last season, Samford won two of three in Birmingham. ETSU won the get-away game with a 12-8 victory, totaling seven runs in the sixth inning.

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