ATHENS, Ga. – A Foley Field Opening Day record crowd of 3,052 saw homestanding Georgia defeat ETSU 9-1 Saturday.
Junior right-hander Jeremy Brown (1-0) provided the Bulldogs with six strong innings and catcher Tony Burchett’s grand slam helped lead Georgia to its first victory. The Bucs dropped to 2-4.
Georgia got on the board with a run-scoring single by junior Darryl Blaze (2-4, 2 RBI). The Bulldogs added two more in the third on a two-run single by redshirt freshman David Coffey (3-3, 2 RBI).
With the Bulldogs up 5-1 in the eighth, the Bucs opted to intentionally walk pinch-hitter Lee Mitchell to load the bases for Burchett, who was 0-for-3 on the day with seven runners left on base.
However, Burchett’s afternoon at the plate changed when he drilled Matt Nunely’s 2-2 pitch over the center field fence for a grand slam and a 9-1 edge.
Brown scattered five hits and one run, walked one and struck out five for his first victory as a Bulldog after transferring from the University of Tennessee. Junior Scott Murphy and Jeffery Carswell combined to blank the Bucs the rest of the way.
ETSU starter Reid Casey (1-1) got the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits in six innings.
Casey walked five and struck out five.
The Bucs’ offense was led by Nathan Copeland’s two hits and one RBI.

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