The Bucs returned home this weekend to sweep the USC Upstate Spartans at Cardinal Park. USC Upstate is the first conference opponent for ETSU. Head coach Tony Skole said that he is happy with the statement his team made to start out A-Sun competition.”We play for the Atlantic Sun regular season,” said Skole. “Winning the A-Sun championship is everybody’s goal at the beginning of the season. They’re tough games to win.”

Junior catcher Derek Trent had a walk off single to center field in the 10th inning of game three that drove in the winning run.

“They’d been pitching tough all game,” said Trent afterwards. “I was expecting the change-up and I hung back and hit it up the middle.”

Junior pitcher Chas Byrne got the win for the Bucs in the first game. He went seven innings and allowed four runs. Byrne also had seven strikeouts.

In the second game, junior Bo Reeder continued his good pitching for ETSU. He pitched five innings and let only two runs score to 2-0 on the year.

Junior Bo Burton came into the game with two outs in the top of the eighth with two men on to save the Bucs any further damage from the Spartan’s offense.

Pitchers battled through the first six innings of the first game. ETSU and USC Upstate were both held scoreless through five innings. Paul Hoilman got the Bucs going with a lead-off double in the bottom of the sixth.

Two batters later, freshman Kerry Doane drove him in. The Bucs added another run before the end of the inning to lead 2-0.

In the seventh, the Spartans put three over the plate before ETSU finished the side. Freshman Andrew Green wasted no time catching the Bucs back up in the bottom of the seventh when he blasted a two-run shot over the right field wall. ETSU was not finished. Bo Reeder drove in two on a triple to right field.

The Bucs added six more runs in the bottom of the eighth and Upstate was not able to close the gap. ETSU took the win 13-4.

In the double-header on Saturday, Reeder and Doane got things started off early. Reeder led off the second with a single and Doane drove him the next at-bat.

Hoilman and the Bucs really got the runs rolling in the bottom of the third. Again capitalizing on his chance to lead off an inning, Hoilman took the Spartans pitcher to center field a single on two strikes. ETSU continued the offensive onslaught when Doane added another RBI. The Bucs were able to rack up seven runs in one inning before Upstate finally got their third out.

Upstate added two runs in the fourth and another four runs in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the damage ETSU inflicted early. The Bucs took the game 11-6.

The third game of the series provided much more drama.

Paul Hoilman came up big for his team once again early in the first inning with a monster home run over the left field fence to score the lead-off man Matthew Scruggs. The homer was Paul’s ninth in just 17 games.

“Paul’s really locked in right now,” said Coach Skole after the game. “People don’t see all the extra work he puts in. He’s usually in the dome hitting when he could be hanging out with his girlfriend.”

When freshman Derek Niesman knocked in Reeder in the bottom of the sixth, the Bucs seemed to have the game in hand, but the Spartans wouldn’t go away.

Upstate’s sophomore Jeff Medley ripped a double to right field in the top of the seventh to score two runs for the Spartans. One inning later, senior Jimmy Tanner added another run to tie the game.

Neither team could score in the eighth or ninth inning, so this one had to be settled outside of regulation.

Burton did perfect work in top of the 10th and retired the Spartans batters one right after the other with two strikeouts.

This set the stage for Trent’s big walk-off single to center to complete the series for the Bucs. With this win, the Bucs move to 3-0 in the Atlantic Sun conference and 13-4 over wins.

This record includes wins against nationally ranked teams like St. Johns and Kansas State, but Coach Skole made it clear that ETSU will continue to work hard.

“We’ve had some big wins,” said Skole. “But we’ve got a long way to go.

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