After being one out away from capturing its fifth straight win Wednesday night at Furman, the ETSU baseball team looks to start a new streak as the Bucs gear up for a three-game conference road set beginning Friday night at Florida Gulf Coast’s Swanson Stadium.

Despite leading for eight and a half innings, the Bucs couldn’t register the 27th out as Furman third baseman Chris Ohmstede belted a two-out, three-run walk-off home run to carry the Paladins past ETSU, 9-8, on Wednesday night in Greenville.

Offensively, the Blue and Gold recorded 16 hits as six Buccaneers totaled multi-hit games. Jeremy Taylor and Chris Riopedre both finished with three hits, while Chris Cook, Clinton Freeman, Tyler Roach and Jordan Sanford all posted two-hits each. Cook extended his hit streak to 16 straight games following his two-hit performance.

As a team, ETSU went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners stranded.

On the mound, six Buccaneer hurlers were used as red-shirt senior right-hander Derek Bushey got the start, while sophomore southpaw Josh Jacques and freshman left-hander Jamin McCann both recorded scoreless appearances. Jacques faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings and McCann retired the three hitters he faced in the seventh.

Unfortunately, the Paladins held ETSU to three hits in the final three innings and scored six unanswered runs to cap off the comeback, marking the Bucs’ second straight walk-off setback on the road. 

Just like the Bucs, FGCU (32-18, 15-6 A-Sun) had its four-game win streak snapped as the Eagles fell at No. 5 Miami, 7-3, Wednesday night in Coral Gables.

FGCU features a strong balance of pitching and hitting as the Eagles rank 11th nationally in hits (511), while their weekend pitching rotation has totaled a 2.38 ERA, which ranks 13th in the country. FGCU also ranks seventh nationally with 103 doubles and its pitching staff ranks 18th with a 2.71 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Eagles are led by sophomore right-hander Michael Murray as he ranks 29th with a 1.51 ERA (15 ER/89.2 IP) and he also leads the country with 11 wins. 

At the plate, red-shirt freshman second baseman Jake Noll is third nationally with 82 hits and is 25th with 22 stolen bases.

Sixteen of FGCU’s 32 wins have come at home, but the Eagles are only 5-4 in A-Sun games at Swanson Stadium.

Author