Matt Traylor couldn’t have picked a better time to hit his first collegiate home run.
Traylor’s homer came in the eighth inning of Friday night’s game, giving the Bucs a 9-8 victory over Georgia Southern at Cardinal Park.
“I got a good piece of the bat on the ball,” Traylor said. “I was just looking to get on base so someone could knock me in.”
The Bucs’ (8-19, 2-8) victory snapped their seven-game losing streak and it was a game, that Traylor said, the whole team knew was important.
“We knew how much we needed this . it was a total team effort,” he said.
The Eagles (21-13, 9-4) struck first in the top of the first inning as Georgia Southern third baseman Rocky Baker homered to left field to give his team the early lead. The Bucs, however, answered right back in the bottom of the inning.
Traylor scored ETSU’s first run of the game after being walked by the Eagles’ Brian Rogers to start the game. Traylor then advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Caleb Moore and came home on designated hitter Davis Burklin’s infield single to tie the game at 1-1.
The Eagles added another run in the second, taking a brief lead before the Bucs’ Jeremy Terry hit his second home run of the season to tie the game, 2-2.
Georgia Southern put two more runs on the scoreboard in the third inning, giving it a 4-2 lead, but once again the lead was short-lived as ETSU took the lead in the bottom half of the inning.
“Our guys came out with energy,” said head coach Tony Skole. “We got big hits at clutch times.”
Buccaneer right fielder Kirk Keithley tied the game at four with a two-run double off the right field wall, scoring Moore and Brandon Cross. Keithley then crossed the plate to give ETSU a 5-4 lead after a balk by Georgia Southern pitcher Jared Comstock.
A double to left field by shortstop Michael Giroud scored Terry, who singled earlier in the inning, to give the Bucs a 6-4 lead.
ETSU added to its lead in the fourth as Keithley struck again with a two-run double off the Howard Johnson scoreboard in left field, bringing in Burklin and Cross to put the Bucs up 8-4.
“We’ve been struggling as a team,” Keithley said. “We picked it up and played a good game tonight.”
The Eagles did not go away, however, cutting ETSU’s lead to 8-6 in the sixth inning as Georgia Southern’s Matt Herring slapped a two-RBI single to right field that brought in Baker, who had an infield single, and Jemel Spearman, who reached base on an error by Terry at shortstop.
Georgia Southern continued its comeback in the seventh as J.R. Revere tripled off the hill in right field, scoring Brendan Gilligan to make the score 8-7. Revere then came home to tie the game at 8-8 on a fielder’s choice groundout by Chad Hall.
Traylor then stepped to the plate to leadoff the bottom half of the eighth and blasted his first homer of the season over the right field wall.
“He’s (Traylor) been struggling, he’s a really good athlete, but he’s been trying to pull the ball. I told him not to try to pull the ball tonight,” said Skole about the left-handed Traylor, who pulled the ball over the right field wall for his dinger. “I’m glad it happened for him.”
Jarrod Hyder shut down the Eagles’ bats in the ninth, picking up the win (2-0) for the Bucs. Starting pitcher Donnie Sharp went five innings, striking out four.
At the plate Keithley had a perfect night going 4-for-4 with four RBIs and a base-on-balls. Cross also had a good night a the plate, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Burklin, Terry and Giroud each added two hits for ETSU.
Comstock (5-2) got the loss for the Eagles, pitching 7.1 innings, striking out eight and giving up eight runs with five earned.
“This was a big win for us,” Skole said. “It was the first time all year that we played well for nine innings.”
ETSU hosts Middle Tennessee State on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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