East Tennessee State’s Clinton Freeman gave a record crowd a record-tying performance.The senior first baseman-closer homered and got the save for the second time this season as the Buccaneers completed a home-and-home season sweep against Tennessee with a 9-7 victory on Tuesday.Freeman’s save, which came in front of a Thomas Stadium record crowd of 1,811, was the 19th of his career and ties him for first on ETSU’s career list with Bo Reeder.“That’s pretty good company right there, Bo Reeder,” Freeman said. “I remember my freshman year when he’s doing that. … He was doing a little bit different than me. He was pumping 94 (mph) in there.”Freeman was 1-for-3 with two walks. He hit a solo home run to center field during a two-run fourth that gave the Bucs a 6-3 lead.Freeman hit a two-run home run and got the save in the Bucs’ 2-1 win in Knoxville on April 1.“He’s a good player,” Tennessee coach Dave Serrano said. “I’m just confused why he’s not – I want to say this in the right way – I respect the fact that he’s here at East Tennessee; if I was here at Tennessee, he would’ve been wearing the orange, I hope, because he’s a pretty darn good player. Not just offensively, but you could tell in his mentality on the mound, too.”Indeed, Freeman got off the mound quickly to field Vincent Jackson’s chopper and tag him along the first base line and made a good play near the third base line on Johnny Youngblood’s bunt for two of the outs in the eighth.“He’s had an unbelievable career,” ETSU coach Tony Skole said. “He’s an All-American and he deserves every bit of success he gets, because he’s just a great young man. I thought what he did tonight was quite remarkable. He hits the home run, he plays great defense. “I thought the two plays he made in the eighth on the tag play at first and then the bunt there – that shows what kind of baseball player he is. He rises to the occasion.”Freeman allowed two runs in two innings, but got Scott Price to ground into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.Freeman’s home run was his Atlantic Sun-leading 10th of the season. It was a good night for the A-Sun, as Kennesaw State beat Georgia and Jacksonville beat Florida.Freeman hit a three-run home run against Jacksonville on Saturday.Tyler Roach also homered for ETSU, a solo shot to lead off the sixth. Roach finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs.Kevin Phillips hit a two-run double for ETSU during a three-run third. Chris Cook had an 11-pitch walk in the first. He walked twice and had an RBI single and a line-out.Jeremy Taylor made a difficult diving catch in left-center field to rob Price in the second inning.Nick Senzel was 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Tennessee (25-14).Jimmy Nesselt pitched a scoreless first for the victory. The teams used a combined 13 pitchers.ETSU hosts Radford at 7:05 tonight.
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