JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. ? Presbyterian College dropped both games of a twinbill with East Tennessee State on Wednesday afternoon at Metro-Kiwanis Park. ETSU earned a 6-5 victory in game one before taking a 6-1 win in game two.
The Blue Hose with the two losses are now 9-20 on the season. ETSU improved to 16-18 on the season with its home doubleheader sweep of the Blue Hose.
Game One
The Buccaneers began their win in game one by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. PC would take its first lead of the game a couple innings later with four runs in the top of the third inning.
Amanda Miller (Orlando, Fla.) scored the first run of the game for PC when she homered to left field to start the top of the third inning. Miller's home run was her second in as many games and her fourth of the year.
Jenny Box (Fruitland Park, Fla.) kept things going next when she singled to left field to place another runner on base for PC. Katie Anderson (North Augusta, S.C.) then followed Miller's lead by hitting a home run for the second consecutive game.
Anderson's home run was a three-run home run as it scored Box and Rachel Parker (Lake City, Fla.), who had walked just before Anderson's home run.The three-run dinger by Anderson was her third of the year.
The score 4- 2 in favor of PC, ETSU scored once in the bottom of the same inning to cut the Blue Hose lead to one at 4-3. The Buccaneers added three more in the bottom of the sixth to go ahead for good at 6-4.
Parker hit her eighth home run of the season in the top of the ninth to cut the ETSU lead to one.
The three home runs by PC in the contest marked the second consecutive game that they finished a contest with three home runs. PC also had three home runs in its 9-7 game two loss to Charleston Southern last Saturday at the PC Softball Complex.
Anderson and Paige Cassady (Orlando, Fla.) were the only Blue Hose to finish with more than one hit in the game. Anderson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run, while Cassady was 2-for-4 in the game.
In total, PC outhit ETSU 9-8 in the loss. The Blue Hose had seven with a hit in the loss in game one.
Mary Gordon (Vernon, Conn.) took the loss for PC from the circle in game one. Gordon pitched five and two-thirds, striking out four.
Game Two
The second game belonged to East Tennessee State's Marissa Hardy. Pitching on her birthday, Hardy struck out an ETSU program-high 16 batters in the Buccaneers' 6-1 win over PC. She allowed PC just three hits.
Hardy retired nine straight PC hitters down on strikes in the first three innings. The Rocklin, Calif. native was perfect through three and two-thirds, but Laura Tate (Spartanburg, S.C.) busted up her no-hitter attempt by doubling to left-center.
Parker singled in Tate next to make it 2-1 in favor of the Bucs, but ETSU added four more in their final two at-bats to take the 6-1 victory.
Next Up
The Blue Hose stay on the road next, traveling to Farmville, Va. for a three-game series with Longwood this weekend. The two programs will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 29, beginning at 5 p.m. They will close out the three-game set with a 12:30 p.m. game on Sunday, March 30.
