East Tennessee State (18-22, 4-11 SoCon) held a commanding 7-0 lead over Georgia Southern, but the Eagles rallied back with eight runs in the top of the sixth inning to claim an 8-7 victory over ETSU at Kiwanis Park Saturday afternoon.
The Buccaneers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first. Freshman Janine Sprague led off the inning with a walk and later scored on freshman groundout to the Eagle’s shortstop.
ETSU increased their lead to 5-0 in the third, when sophomore Danielle Spetar crossed home plate on an Eagle error, and third baseman Lindsay Lane scored on a double by Julia Chance. Two more runs were driven in on a Rhea Holler single to left-center field.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Holler, who finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs, doubled to bring in sophomore catcher Amy Moore and junior pitcher Tiffany McVay, giving the Buccaneers a 7-0 advantage.
McVay ran into some trouble in the top of the sixth inning, however, as Georgia Southern rallied to take an 8-7 lead, while sending 14 batters to the plate. The Eagles scattered six hits, including two by Meghan Correia. Correia, Julie Peel, Janice Savage and Sam Steiner each drove in a run, while Tiffany Urena brought two runs home with her single.
Junior Jennifer Fraser came in to relieve McVay with no outs in the sixth. McVay fell to 11-8 this season and finished her day allowing 10 hits and four earned runs after hurling five innings of shutout ball. Georgia Southern pitcher Tiffany Urena entered the game in relief of A.J. Street in the third inning, while improving to 10-5 on the season.

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