No. 19 Pirates to square off with No. 26 Seahawks on Wednesday

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Trailing in-state foe Campbell, 9-8, with a runner on first and one down in the top of the ninth, East Carolina had to like its chances with the top of its order coming up.

However, after Trent Whitehead hit into a fielder’s choice, the damage would have to be done with two outs.

It was.

The Pirates’ 2-3-4 batters—Ryan Wood, Stephen Batts and Kyle Roller—delivered back-to-back-to-back two out singles to earn East Carolina the 10-9 advantage through eight and a half.

However, ECU (17-4, 3-0) was not out of the woods yet as it would have to shut down the potent Camels’ offense in the bottom half to preserve the victory.

Seth Simmons, who earned the victory while throwing three innings in relief, struck out the side and a two out walk didn’t come back to haunt the Pirates’ closer.

East Carolina, which scored in seven of its nine at-bats, continued to show why its one of the nation’s top offenses. The Pirates produced 17 hits in the contest and reached double figures in hits for the 19 th time in 21 games. They have now plated 100 runs on 115 hits in just the last six games. ECU is hitting .387 with 35 home runs and pushing across 11.3 runs per game. Six regulars are hitting .404 or better and the lowest average is .365.

Kyle Roller, who was named CUSA Hitter-of-the-Week and NCBWA Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week after his 13-of-22 performance last week, stayed hot. The Pirates’ clean-up hitter went 4-of-6 on the night and hit his team-leading eighth home run. Roller also continues to lead ECU in RBIs after plating four against the Camels to up his total to 34. Following the UCLA series, he was hovering just above .300, but is up to .410 after going 17-of-28 in his last six games. The slugger has been hit by a team-high eight pitches.

Right fielder Devin Harris also joined the .400 club after a 4-of-5 effort against Campbell has him at .404 for the season.

Sophomore starter Sthil Sowers’ struggles continued. The former weekend started allowed seven runs—five earned—on six hits in 4.2 innings. He walked three, hit two and threw two wild pitches. All but one of those runs came in the bottom of the third when the Camels plated six runs on just three hits.

Billy Godwin’s club will put its seven game winning streak on the line tonight when it host in-state rival No. 26 UNCW (17-4, 5-1) at 6 p.m.

The match-up will be the first of three between the programs. The next two will be at Brooks Field in Wilmington. East Carolina won all three match-ups last season. It took 6-1 and 3-2 decisions in Greenville with a 14-7 blowout win in Wilmington in the middle game.

The Seahawks will be attempting to bounce back from an 8-1 home loss to fifth-ranked UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday night. The game will be just their second away from Brooks Field.

Prior to their loss to the Tar Heels, Mark Scalf’s club had won eight of nine to climb into the national polls.

Offensively, the Seahawks swing it at a .302 clip and average 7.6 runs per game. Their line-up features four regulars batting above .300. However, they were limited to five hits and struck out a season-high 13 times against the talented Tar Heels’ pitching staff.

Left fielder Grayson Evans leads the team with his .366 average and also has a team high nine doubles. He has driven in the second most runs (23) on the club and ranks third in home runs (2).

Shortstop Mike Rooney, who will bring an eight-game hitting streak to Clark-LeClair Stadium, is second on the team with his .342 mark. He has tripled a team-high three times.

Second baseman Ben Thielsen (.311) and right fielder Bobby Leeper (.314) are the other starters hitting over .300.

First baseman Robbie Monday (.288) and catcher Cody Stanley are tied for the team lead in home runs with six.

The pitching match-up will feature East Carolina sophomore righty and Wilmington-native Brad Mincey facing off against Seahawk sophomore righty Justin Bradley.

Mincey (3-1, 2.25) will be making the third start of his Pirate career and the first of this season. In 16 innings, which have come primarily in long relief, he has surrendered 15 hits and opponents are hitting .242 against him. Mincey has exhibited excellent command and has struck out 18 batters while walking only three. One of his two starts as a freshman came against UNCW at Brooks Field and he only lasted 1.1 innings after allowing two runs on two hits and two walks. However, he did fair better against his hometown school in the third match-up when he pitched two scoreless innings of relief without allowing a hit and striking out two.

Bradley (2-0, 5.59) will be making his fourth start of the season. In 19.1 innings, he has given up 16 hits and opponents are hitting just .219 against him. He has struggled with his command at times, as he’s walked six and hit four.

East Carolina will play its first road Conference USA series this weekend when it travels to Charleston, WV for a three-game set against Marshall.