The ETSU baseball team stood tall against a pesky Radford club and was able to score runs when they needed them, as they defeated the Highlanders, 5-2, at Cardinal Park on Wednesday.
The pitching staff did their job again as they shut down Radford by only giving up two runs and eight hits. Leading the way for the staff was freshman David Yates.
Yates was solid in his first collegiate start by setting the pace of the game and only giving up one run in five innings on the mound.
“We pitched very well today,” said head coach Tony Skole. “David Yates kept the ball down in the strike zone and kept us in the ball game.”
The bullpen took care of business as well. Michael Bauer, Trevor Smith, Caleb Glafenhein and Caleb Moore all performed well and helped Yates preserve his first collegiate win.
Offensively, the Bucs started strong with a Matt Traylor lead-off double in the first, which led to a Blake Church single that scored Traylor. ETSU could only muster six hits on the day, but when they did get hits, they made the most of them by getting the majority of the six late in the contest.
“We only had six hits in the game, but we got them when it counted,” said Traylor.
Of the six hits, four of them went for extra bases. The bats came to life late in the game with a seventh-inning solo homerun by Steven Calicutt and a triple by senior Tim Turner.
The good defense by both teams led to short innings and a quick game that only lasted about two hours.
The game was not one of best all around performances for ETSU, but as long as the team comes out on top, they will take it.
“This one wasn’t pretty, but a win’s a win,” said Traylor.
After the Bucs return home from Georgia Southern, they will have a six-game home stand. ETSU will face Ball State on March 16 and 17, and then they will face a hot UNC-Greensboro team over the weekend.
The home stand ends with the team facing rival Tennessee on March 23.
The first game of the home stand is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday against Ball State and will be played at Cardinal Park.

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