Johnson City Times

The ETSU baseball team opened Southern Conference play against Samford on Friday evening at Thomas Stadium, falling on the wrong end of a high-octane affair, 19-7.

Despite blasting four home runs — two of which came off the bat of first baseman Cameron Sisneros (Littleton, Colo.) — ETSU was unable to keep up with Samford’s attack. The Bulldogs turned the game in their favor with a seven-run fifth inning sparked by a grand slam from Lucas Steele.

The game started as a back-and-forth battle with both teams tied at 3-3 after the fourth inning. Samford took an early 2-0 lead in the first and a 3-1 lead in the third, but ETSU struck back with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to tie it up. Sisneros and Garett Wallace (Sanford, Fla.) hit solo homers in the second and fourth innings to sandwich an RBI single by Cody Miller (Rocky Point, N.Y.) in the third.

Unfortunately for ETSU, the game took a turn in the fifth as Samford reached three base runners with nobody out and used one swing of the bat from Steele to make it 7-3 knock the wind out of the Bucs. Samford also had an eight run eighth inning to add more runs.

Despite the loss, ETSU had 11 hits with Sisneros going 3-for-4 with two homers. Wallace and teammate Noah Webb (Kodak, Tenn.) added solo homers, while Webb joined Miller with two-hit days. Samford had 16 hits and five homers, including two grand slams.

 

PITCHERS OF RECORD

Win – Jacob Cravey (3-2)

Loss – Colby Stuart (1-1)

Save – None

 

TEAM RECORDS

ETSU: 10-10, 0-1 SoCon

Samford: 12-10, 1-0 SoCon

Original source can be found here