Bulldogs snap three game skid with win over ETSU

By Christopher Jones – [email protected] – Staff Writer | April 15, 2015 |
The UNC Asheville baseball team traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee, Tuesday night to trump the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers with a 6-3 victory in Thomas Stadium. The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Bulldogs and improved their overall record to 16-17 on the season. ETSU fell to 12-19 on the season with the loss.
UNCA won the previous matchup 8-6 at Greenwood field in Asheville and, with Tuesday’s win at Thomas Stadium, they swept the season series over ETSU two games to none.
“We played a good game tonight, used a lot of pitchers, but in the end we got the job done tonight over a tough team in the Buccaneers,” said Scott Friedholm, UNCA head baseball coach.
UNCA and ETSU combined to use 15 pitchers in the contest. The Bulldogs threw seven of their own pitchers out on the mound and the Buccaneers saw eight pitchers throwing for them Tuesday night. ETSU Freshman right-hander, Logan Gentry, started the game and also earned the loss for the Buccaneers. Gentry’s night was cut short as he only pitched two innings, walked three, struck-out four, allowed two hits and gave up two runs, including giving up a solo home run in the first.
Spencer Orr, UNCA sophomore southpaw, started the game for the Bulldogs and pitched four innings, allowing only three hits, two walks, one earned run, and striking out two Buccaneer batters. Bulldogs Senior righty relief pitcher, Evan Joura, picked up his first win of the season by coming in and pitching his one inning of relief in the fifth inning. Joura allowed no hits and struck out one ETSU batter. UNCA senior closer Nick Schavone came in and picked up the save by pitching the last four outs of the game. Schavone faced five batters, allowed no hits, walked one, and struck out one ETSU batter. Schavone earned his seventh save of the season.
“Their pitchers were on tonight, we couldn’t get much going and create any type of flow during the game. We left a lot of people on base today, and that is never good if you want to win the game,” said ETSU Assistant Coach Xan Barksdale.
Overall, The Buccaneers left 11 runners on base throughout the game.
UNCA senior infielder Kyle Towles opened up the first inning with a solo home run and closed the game, scoring for the Bulldogs by knocking another solo home run over the left-field fence. Bulldogs’ sophomore pitcher and infielder, Joe Zayatz, collected two hits in the game and Bulldogs’ senior infielder Tommy Houmard collected a hit in the game to extend his on-base streak to 21 games.
“It was a close game overall, we just started our comeback a little too late for us to make it closer. We have to fix a little things here and there and then move on to the next game and show those improvements,” said Tony Skole, ETSU head coach.