Coming off a series sweep of the Boston College Eagles last weekend, Tech looked to continue their five-game winning streak against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. Tech won the game against ETSU in a come-from-behind victory, 13-6.
Freshman Thomas Nichols doubled in the bottom of the first and scored from third on senior Brad Feltes’ single. The Buccaneers came right back, though, scoring three times in the top of the second. Danny Petro walked and Derek Trent followed when he was hit by a pitch. Bubby Herbold sacrificed the runners over to second and third and Ben Allen doubled to drive both runners in. Allen came around to score with two outs on Jacob Fabry’s single.
Troy Mendez did the damage in the top of the third. Mendez doubled with one out and moved to third when Petro grounded out. Mendez came in to score on pitcher Deck McGuire’s wild pitch.
The Jackets got their offense up again in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore Tony Plagman homered with one out to bring the Jackets within two runs of the tie. The Bucs opened up their lead again in the top half of the fifth when Paul Hoilman and Trent homered to push the score to 6-2.
The Jackets finally found some rhythm in the bottom of the fifth when they pushed three runners across. Junior catcher Jason Haniger singled to lead off the inning. After the Buccaneers made a pitching change, freshman Derek Dietrich reached first on a catcher’s interference that scored Haniger from third. Feltes then reached first on an error that allowed Nichols to score. Plagman followed with a sacrifice fly that made the score 6-4.
In the bottom of the sixth, Haniger homered with one out to bring Tech within one. With two outs, Nichols walked and junior Charlie Blackmon singled him to third. Dietrich doubled, scoring both Nichols and Blackmon. Feltes followed with an RBI single for the fourth run of the inning and an 8-6 lead, a lead they would not lose.
In the eighth, Nichols reached base when he was hit by a pitch. Blackmon singled and both advanced on a wild pitch. Dietrich got on base for the second time in the game on catcher’s interference. The second wild pitch of the inning brought Nichols home and advanced Blackmon and Dietrich to third and second, respectively. Feltes struck out and Plagman walked to load the bases again. Luke Murton drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Patrick Long drove in two more on a double to deep left field.
McGuire started and went five innings, giving up six runs. Taylor Wood pitched a scoreless sixth for the win (2-0). For the Bucaneers, Dustin Plumlee gave up four earned runs in 1.2 innings and took the loss (1-2). Tech held on for a 5-4 win in the second game of the series Wednesday night. Freshman Brandon Cumpton (2-0) pitched 6 strong innings for the win and junior Chris Hicks picked up his seventh save of the season.
The Jackets got the scoring started in the third inning. Junior Chris House flied out before Blackmon singled to start the rally. Feltes then walked to load the bases for Murton. Murton’s double to right scored Blackmon and Dietrich. The scoring continued in the very next inning.
House then reached first on a fielder’s choice, Rowland was tagged out at third. House advanced to second on a wild pitch. Blackmon was then involved in a very uncommon play. He reached first on a fielding error by the first baseman and advanced to second on a throwing error by the catcher. The throw also got him to third base and he was able to score on a fielding error by the center-fielder. House also scored on the play.
ETSU’s designated hitter Bart Roark homered in the fifth inning. The scoring did not stop there as Anthony Russell homered in the sixth inning to cut into the lead.
The seventh inning saw the Bucs get another home run, this time from Petro. Trent hit an RBI double in the eighth, but was unable to score as the Buccaneers lost.