#8 Rice blanks #22 East Carolina, 4-0

Owl pitchers record 13 strikeouts in shutout victory

CUSA Fans Director of Content and East Carolina sports correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum provides us with his latest update on the 2007 ECU Pirates baseball team.

GREENVILLE , NC — East Carolina has faced some of the nation’s top pitchers this season.  However, no one has shut the Pirates down anymore than Rice freshman Ryan Berry did on Friday night.  The Owls (24-10, 6-1) used the dominant pitching effort to take a 4-0 shutout win in the first game of this key CUSA series.

After both teams went in order in the first, Rice first baseman Joe Savery led off the second with a double off the 320-mark down the right field line.  Following an Aaron Luna strikeout, Jared Gayhart walked and the Owls had the table set with only one out.  However, East Carolina starter T.J. Hose pitched out of the jam, as he struck Tyler Henley after getting Danny Lehmann to pop out to short.

The Pirates (21-10, 4-3) struggled to even put the ball in play off Berry , as the Owls’ freshman right-hander struck out 12 on the evening.  He improved to 5-1 on the season after scattering four hits in 7.1 innings of work.

When ECU did threaten, Rice managed to escape unscathed.

One of the Pirates’ missed opportunities was in the third.  Jake Dean led off with a single to left field.  He advanced to second on Drew Schieber’s sacrifice bunt.  After Ryan Wood struck out, ECU’s hopes were pinned on Harrison Eldridge.  Eldridge would reach on an error, but the Owls would get out of the inning by catching Dean taking too big of a turn around third.

The game would remain scoreless until the fifth.  Rice shortstop Brian Friday reached with a one out double to left center.  Diego Seastrunk followed with a single to right field.  With runners on the corners, Jordan Dodson hit the ball to third.  ECU third baseman Drew Schieber elected to try for the double play, but the Owls' speedy left fielder did not allow that to happen.  Friday scored on the play and Rice took a 1-0 lead.

Rice would extend its lead to three in the top of the sixth.  Joe Savery led off with a walk.  He came around to score on Aaron Luna's second double of the contest.  After Jared Gayhart singled and Danny Lehmann walked, ECU found itself in a bases loaded, one out jam.  Pirates' head coach Billy Godwin opted to go to his bullpen, bringing in Josh Ruhlman to put out the fire.  The Central Michigan transfer would face only two batters.  He allowed Derek Myers to plate Luna on a sacrifice fly.  Following the lefty's strikeout of Jess Buenger, Godwin made another call to the bullpen.  Mike Flye came on to record the final out of the inning, as he got Brian Friday to fly out to center.

East Carolina had an opportunity in the bottom of the inning after Dale Mollenhauer reached with a one out single to center and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.  However, Stephen Batts and Ryan Tousley would strike out and the Pirates came away empty-handed.

The Owls tacked on one more run in the seventh.  Jordan Dodson reached with a one out walk and advanced to third on Joe Savery's single.  Running the bases wisely, Savery moved into scoring position on the throw to third.  Next, the Pirates chose to intentionally walk Aaron Luna, who had already double twice on the night.  Jared Gayhart made ECU pay, as he came through with a SAC fly on a foul ball to left.  However, the Pirates did stay within striking distance by getting Danny Lehmann to pop up to short to strand runners at second and third.

Trailing 4-0 after 7.5 innings of play and desperately needing a spark, Pirates' head coach Billy Godwin pinch hit Brock Sutton for Drew Schieber.  Sutton drew a lead off walk.  Rice head coach Wayne Graham went to Ryne Tacker to close the deal.  However, Ryan Wood greeted him with a single through the left side and ECU was in business.  Harrison Eldridge worked the count to 3-0 before Tacker threw a strike, but the Owls' reliever would get the Pirates' leadoff man to pop up.  He then got Dale Mollenhauer to ground in to 4-6-3 inning ending double play, killing the ECU rally.

ECU would proceed to go 1-2-3 in the ninth.

No East Carolina player collected more than one hit in the game.  Rice was led by Aaron Luna and Joe Savery's 2-of-4 efforts. 

With the loss, ECU's T.J. Hose fell to 4-4 on the season.  He went five innings, allowing three runs (all earned) on six hits.  The Pirates' junior righthander struck out four, but also issued four walks.  Mike Flye was a bit erratic in his 3.1 innings of relief, as he walked three.  However, he did a nice job of pitching out of his self-inflicted trouble, as the Greenville-native allowed only one run while also surrendering only one hit.

The Pirates and Owls will play game two of their three-game set on Saturday.  First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. (EST) at Clark-LeClair Stadium, Lewis Field.