March 18, 2006
Final Stats
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The East Tennessee State baseball team swept an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader from North Florida in a battle of league newcomers on Saturday afternoon, winning 8-7 and 7-4 at Cardinal Park.
ETSU catcher Justin Aughey - a native of Davie, Fla. - blasted two home runs and had three RBIs on the day, including the game-winners in both contests. In game one, with the game tied at seven and two outs in the ninth inning, Aughey belted his second homer of the game and fifth of the season over the right field wall, providing ETSU with a dramatic walk-off win. In game two, Aughey's run- scoring double in the bottom of the eighth snapped a 4-4 tie and pushed the Bucs (14-8, 4-1 A-Sun) ahead for good.
UNF (12-11, 5-3 A-Sun) collected nine hits in game one and eight hits in game two but couldn't hold late leads in either contest.
In game one, Jeremy Papelbon started and allowed five earned runs and nine hits in four innings. Jared Incinelli followed with 3.1 strong innings of relief, allowing only one earned run, before Josh Papelbon came on in the eighth inning with the Ospreys clinging to a 7-6 lead. Papelbon's throwing error allowed the tying run to score and tie the game at seven, however, and Aughey then belted the game winner with two outs an inning later.
Brennan Grogan was 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored for the Ospreys in game one, while Brandon Diaz was 1-for-3 with a two-run home run for UNF. Josh Papelbon (3-2) suffered the loss, allowing a run and a hit in 1.1 innings.
In game two, the Ospreys rallied from an early 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead on Travis Martin's three-run home run, but again couldn't hold it. The Bucs tied the game with a run off Antonio Franzese in the seventh and added three more in the eighth off a pair of UNF relievers - aided by another critical UNF error.
Martin was 2-for-3 for UNF, while Grant Rogers was 2-for-4 and Matt Oxendine 3-for-4. Jason Kracunas (0-1) suffered the loss for the Ospreys.
The teams will conclude their three-game series on Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m.
