ETSU First to Clinch Spot on Championship Saturday
Date Posted: 5/26/2006
DELAND, Fla. – Making his third start in as many days, Caleb Glafenhein baffled Florida Atlantic in a five-hit complete game effort to lift ETSU to Championship Saturday with a 5-1 victory on Friday.
Glafenhein (2-4) made his first start of the season on the tournament’s first day after head coach Tony Skole adopted a unique pitching rotation. To help battle the starters’ first inning woes, Skole chose to start a reliever and bring his regularly scheduled starter out of the bullpen after two innings. The Bucs (31-26) followed the plans in games one and two before Glafenhein’s brilliance forced a mid-course adjustment. The junior surrendered just five hits on his way to his first career complete game. The Knoxville native, who had made only four career starts entering the championship, needed just 81 pitches to dispatch the Owls. He becomes the first pitcher in A-Sun Tournament history to start three consecutive games.
Florida Atlantic (30-28) dented the scoreboard first when William Block drove in Mike McKenna with his second inning sacrifice fly. The Bucs answered in the top of the fourth inning on Justin Aughey’s two-run double that plated Stephen Douglas and C.J. Lee to push ETSU into the lead. Three insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings helped seal ETSU’s first appearance on Championship Saturday.
ETSU banged out 17 hits including four different players with three hits each while third baseman Anthony Russell drove in three runs. Andrew Tomlin (1-1) took the loss in FAU’s final Atlantic Sun competition before joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2006-07. Five of the championship’s first eight games have been decided by one run, the first time that has happened since the field expanded to six teams in 1996.
The Bucs will face Stetson at 1:00 pm on Saturday as the tournament heads into its final day.
Day three concludes with a rematch from last night’s extra inning thriller as Mercer will try to knock off host Stetson with the winner headed to Saturday’s championship game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
