The ETSU baseball team came into Friday’s home game against Furman with a 12-12 record after a win over Radford.
In the top of the second, Furman scored the first two runs of the game after Landon Kay (Charlotte, N.C.) homered down the left field line, which also brought in runner John Boswell (Atlanta, Ga).
In the top of the third, Furman was able to add to its lead after Cameron Whitehead homered to left field (Cincinnati, Ohio).
Kay was able to add another run for Furman after a sacrifice fly to right field that brought in runner Brandon Elmy to give Furman a commanding 4-0 lead.
The Bucs were able to fire back in the bottom of the third after Hagen Owenby (Knoxville, Tenn.) doubled to right center to bring in runners Robby McCabe (New Port Richey, Fl.) and Lance Mays (Ridgely, Tenn.). This brought the Furman lead to 4-2.
Elmy knocked a homer of his own over left field for Furman that brought in Whitehead to give Furman a 6-2 lead. The Bucs responded after Trey York (Knoxville, Tenn.) doubled to right center to bring in McCabe, which brought the Furman lead to 6-3.
Bucs junior pitcher Blake Smith (Ninety Six, S.C.) was replaced after the fifth inning after giving up six runs in five innings. He was replaced by senior pitcher Griffin Krieg (Nashville, Tenn.).
In the sixth and eighth innings, the Bucs were able to hold Furman scoreless. However, they weren’t able to put any runs up, which kept the deficit at three.
In the bottom of ninth, the Bucs were able to get the deficit to two after Kevin Phillips (St. Louis, Mo.) grounded out to shortstop to help bring York in for a score and bring the Furman lead to 6-4.
In the ninth inning, after holding Furman scoreless, the Bucs had one more chance to either win or tie.
To start the bottom of the ninth, Jammer Strickland (Knoxville, Tenn.) was walked followed by a hit to shortstop and third base by Mays to get two runners in scoring position.
When next at bat, the Bucs weren’t able to bring runners in, grounding out at bat.
Jeremy Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) grounded out to shortstop, but wasn’t able to bring in a run. The last at bat was a ground out to third base.
The Bucs fell to Furman 6-5 on Friday and dropped to 12-13 on the season.
The Bucs’ pitching gave up a lot of big hits that ultimately led the Bucs to play from behind the whole game by two or more runs.
The Bucs bounced back on Saturday to take a 6-3 win over the Paladins.
In the final game of the series on Sunday, the Bucs won 13-9, winning the series 2-1.
