As the cars raced around Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, the ETSU baseball team was racing around the base paths, beating the Elon Phoenix 17-11 and 4-3 in a doubleheader at Cardinal Park.
After an 11-1 loss on Friday, in which the team only got five hits, ETSU got the sour taste out its mouth by combining for 21 runs on 26 hits in the twin bill.
Coach Tony Skole, who called Friday’s loss a lackluster effort, had much better things to say about his ball club after Sunday’s games.
“We learned from Friday’s loss and we came back and played great baseball,” said Skole. “Elon has a strong program so these two wins were huge for our team.”
Game one was not exactly a pitcher’s duel, as both teams combined for 36 hits and ETSU came out on top 17-11.
Five Buccaneer hitters had at least three hits with Shane Byrne (5-for-6, three RBI) and Caleb Moore’s (3-for-5, seven RBI) explosive performances leading the way.
Moore belted two three-run homers in the game and Stephen Douglas went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Other big hitters were Chuck Hargis, who was 3-for-3 with four runs scored and Mike Giroud with a 3-for-5 effort. Jeremy Hall (5-1) pitched well in 6.2 innings of work, striking out seven and walking only two.
In game two, the offense was harder to come by as ETSU scored all of its runs in the first three innings and held on for the 4-3 victory.
Nick Crowe hit a double in the first and then Moore drove him in on a sacrifice fly. Later, in the third inning, the Bucs got three more runs thanks to a shot over the right-center field wall by Douglas.
Douglas went 1-for-3 in the game with three RBIs. Elon made the game close with one run in the fourth and two in the fifth, but Skole called on Moore for the final two innings, and he closed the door on the Phoenix.
Moore (4-0) earned the win, striking out four and only giving up one hit. Brian Lovett also had a solid outing, pitching three scoreless innings and fanning four Elon batters.
After a hard-fought series with Elon, ETSU (16-8, 6-6) traveled to Radford to face the non-conference Highlanders. The Bucs held an 8-1 lead, only to watch as Radford battled back to tie the game at 11 heading into the ninth inning. With the game tied, Douglas put the Highlanders away with a two-run double.
“I was a little disappointed that we let them get back into it, but we had some guys step up towards the end of the game and make some big plays,” Skole said.
The double for the sophomore put the lid on a 5-for-5, three RBI day. In ETSU’s last three games Douglas is 9-for-12 with eight RBI and four doubles.
Crowe went 2-for-4 in the game and Byrne also had another productive day going 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
ETSU will travel to Western Carolina on Friday for a critical series with the Catamounts. A sweep would put the Bucs ahead of Western Carolina in the Southern Conference standings.
“Western Carolina is right in the middle of the pack like us, so this series is huge,” said Skole.

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