Pirates begin five-game homestand with Phoenix on Tuesday

East Carolina and Elon to play second of three mid-week games

Following consecutive losing weeks, East Carolina will look to start this one with a quality win over the potent Elon Phoenix.

The 24 th-ranked Pirates (28-12 overall, 10-5 CUSA), who lost two of three at nemesis Tulane over the weekend, have lost seven of their last ten games after having climbed to as high as 14 th in the polls.

The first time these two met back on March 31 st, then 16 th ranked East Carolina pounded Elon, 15-4. The Pirates needed just ten hits to plate those 15 runs, as they combined four long balls with six walks to do their damage. They pushed five across in their first at-bat to set the tone before posting another five-spot in the seventh to help seal the deal.

Devin Harris, who had one of ECU’s four home runs in the game, was the only Pirate to have more than one hit. Ryan Wood, Stephen Batts and Dustin Harrington also homered for East Carolina.

Meanwhile, the Pirates used six pitchers and limited Elon to just four runs on six hits. Elon scored three of those runs in the ninth when trailing 15-1.

Redshirt sophomore Mike Anderson received the start and went three innings while allowing just one run on three hits. However, he did walk three batters and was plagued by control issues as he has been for much of the season. Patrick Somers, Mike Wright, Mark Wilder, Lance Honeycutt and Joe O’Malley all saw mound time for the Pirates.

With the exception of O’Malley, the East Carolina arms did a very nice job against a very potent Phoenix line-up. Elon enters tonight’s game hitting .324 with 77 home runs and 93 doubles. While the 77 home runs are a product of the hitter’s ballpark they call home, the club’s slugging mark of .590 is still very impressive.

Senior outfielder Pat Irvine, who is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, leads the way with his .413 batting average. Irvine, who is fourth with 38 RBI, is also tops on the team with 13 home runs. He is one of five Phoenix batters with at least ten round trippers.

Middle infielder Chase Austin ranks second on the team in average (.373) and home runs (12) while being tied for the lead in RBI (42).

Cory Harrilchak, who started in centerfield in the first game, is third on the team with his .371 mark at the plate. He has 13 doubles (second) and 41 RBI (third).

Mike Melillo (.336 10 HR 14 2B) and Justin Hilt (.326 11 HR 42 RBI) are other top-hitters.

The Pirates bring a .351 average into tonight. They have already hammered 64 home runs—tenth most in school history—while also slugging 102 doubles.

Senior first baseman Brandon Henderson, who had a second straight stellar weekend, leads the team with his .430 clip at the plate. Henderson, who went 6-of-12 with two home runs against Tulane, has seven home runs and 34 RBI despite missing 12 games.

Sophomore centerfielder Trent Whitehead, who made as good of a catch as you’ll ever see at Tulane when he robbed a Green Wave batter of a homerun, is second in batting average (.390) and doubles (14).

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Stephen Batts (.373 9 HR 35 RBI), Ryan Wood (.370 6 HR 35 RBI), Devin Harris (.362 10 HR 35 RBI) and Kyle Roller (.353 10 HR 46 RBI) are other Diamond Pirate regulars hitting above .350.

Neither club has announced a starter for tonight’s game.

The three pitchers—Bobby Kennedy, John Brebbia and Greg Amorosso—Elon used in the first meeting currently have the three highest ERA’s on the staff. Last week, Cory Harrilchak (1-1, 6.49 ERA) and Tom Porter (0-2, 4.35) started mid-week games against UNCW and ODU. Both delivered strong outings and are options that Elon coach Mike Kennedy could elect to use tonight.

With No. 1 North Carolina coming to town tomorrow night, Billy Godwin may use lefty Kevin Brandt against the Tar Heels. Therefore, don’t be surprised if Mike Wright or Patrick Somers gets the start tonight. Don’t expect Mike Anderson, who had success the first time around, but was shelled last week against Campbell. If it’s not Somers or Wright, it would likely be sophomore Sthil Sowers.

Final Prediction and Analysis

Elon and East Carolina possess very potent offensive line-ups. This game could last a while and feature plenty of runs like last week’s Campbell match-up depending on which pitchers see mound time.

With a chance to get back into the hosting picture with a strong finish, the Pirates need to develop some momentum for the Tar Heels with a victory over an Elon club ranked 27 th by Ping Baseball.

East Carolina 9 Elon 7