Diamond Pirates Salvage One In Big Easy with Late Inning Sunday Rally

East Carolina is now 4-2 in CUSA

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.

East Carolina RF Ryan Tousley went 5-of-5 with a home run and 4 RBI on Sunday.

METAIRIE , LA—No. 29 Tulane (22-8, 5-1) continued its strong play by taking this series from red hot, 19 th ranked East Carolina, 2-1. The Pirates (21-8, 4-2) came into the weekend with the nation’s longest winning streak, but dropped the first two games of the series while struggling to muster any offense against one of the nation’s top pitching staffs. However, the ECU bats pounded 18 hits and the Pirates staved off the sweep, as they came from behind to win in an 11-7 shootout in the series finale.

GAME ONE: #29 Tulane outduels #19 East Carolina, 2-1

The Pirates (20-7, 3-1) saw their 14-game win streak come to an end on Friday night, as the Green Wave (21-7, 4-0) was able to pull out the 2-1 victory in the initial game of this key CUSA series at Zephyr Field.

Tulane rode the right arm of junior ace Sean Morgan to the win. Morgan fanned ten East Carolina batters in 6.2 innings of work en route to earning his sixth victory of the season. He allowed one run on only four hits, but struggled with his command at times as he walked six batters in the game.

The Green Wave’s stud stopper Daniel Latham came on in relief of Morgan with two outs in the seventh. He allowed only two hits and struck out two in 2.1 innings.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the second when Drew Schieber scored on Jake Dean’s two-out double down the right field line.

ECU carried this advantage into the bottom of the fourth, but the Green Wave plated two runs on three hits off Pirate starter TJ Hose.

It was a lead that Tulane would not relinquish. However, East Carolina certainly had their chances as it left the bases loaded twice in the last five innings.

In fact, in the fifth the Pirates used a walk, hit batsman and a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. They were unable to capitalize, as the heart of their order (Batts-Tousley-Kemp) all struck out.

Two innings later, ECU loaded the bases again—this time with two outs. However, Kemp went down looking and another opportunity was lost.

The Pirates also missed another chance in the eighth, as they stranded two after Brandon Henderson and Jake Dean had one out singles.

Brad Emaus, Warren McFadden and Jared Dyer all had two hits apiece for Tulane.

Jake Dean went 2-of-4 with a double to lead East Carolina. Dale Mollenhauer was the only other ECU player to collect a multi-hit game. The Pirates’ shortstop went 2-of-5 and collected his eighth double of the season.

T.J. Hose pitched well, but still suffered the loss. He allowed two runs, both of which were earned, on six hits. Jason Neitz and Brett Butts worked the last two innings, going 1.1 and .2 innings, respectively. The duo allowed only one hit.

GAME TWO: Green Wave “Shoots” Down Pirates, 8-2

 Tulane received a superb start from sophomore righty Shooter Hunt and defeated No. 19 East Carolina for a second time in as many days. With the win, the 29 th ranked Green Wave improves to 22-7 overall while remaining perfect in CUSA at 5-0.

The Pirate weren’t able to do much with Hunt, who improved to 6-2 with the victory, but they did plate a run in the top of the first to assume an early 1-0 advantage. Dale Mollenhauer reached on a one out single to center. He stole second with two outs and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored following a fielding error by the center fielder.

Shortstop Dale Mollenhauer was a perfect 4-of-4 with 2 RBI and scored three runs in the Pirates' 11-7 come from behind win over No. 29 Tulane on Sunday.

The Greenies responded with three two-out runs in the bottom of the inning, as they combined two singles with a walk and a couple errors.

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth when Tulane extended the Pirates’ deficit to four at 5-1. RF Warren McFadden doubled to right field to score Tim Guidry and scored later in the inning on Aja Barto’s single up the middle.

ECU starter Dustin Sasser, who suffered his first loss of the season, struggled with his control and was pulled after working 4.2 innings. Mike Flye came on to record the last out of the inning when he got Nate Simon to line out to first baseman Stephen Batts, stranding runners at first and second.

With runners on the corners and one down in the bottom of the sixth, Rick Jones’ opted to squeeze home Anthony Scelfo with Tim Guidry.

Corey Kemp pulled the Pirates within 6-2 in the top of the seventh when he connected for a solo home run to left field.

In the bottom half of the frame, Tulane built the lead to 8-2 without getting a ball out of the infield. There were three infield singles, a walk and an error against ECU reliever Josh Ruhlman.

Bailey Daniels, who has struggled as of late, pitched the last 1.2 innings. He did not allow a hit or run and struck out the side in the eighth.

The Green Wave did have 12 hits in the game, but it was also the beneficiary of eight free passes. Conversely, Tulane’s pitching staff only walked one batter the entire game. UVA transfer Shooter Hunt allowed five hits and struck out nine in seven innings of work. He surrendered two runs, but only one was earned.

East Carolina was only able to muster seven hits in the game. Jake Dean, who was the only Pirate to collect multiple hits, finished the game 2-of-4 with a single and double.

Tulane’s line-up featured four players with multi-hit games. Designated hitter Aja Barto led the way with his 3-of-5 effort while Cat Everett, Tim Guidry and Brad Emaus all collected two hits in the contest.

After homering in Saturday's game, Corey Kemp went 2-of-4 and drove in four runs in the series finale against the Green Wave.

GAME THREE: THERE’S NO QUIT IN THESE BUCS: Pirates Post Hearty 11-7 Victory

After suffering defeats in the first two games of this key CUSA road series, East Carolina found itself on the verge of being swept and falling to 0-6 on the road this season. The Pirates trailed 7-2 after six innings, but they exploded for nine runs over the final three innings to notch the 11-7 win.

Early on, the game resembled Saturday’s contest. The Pirates jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage after a half inning, but Tulane would respond to take the lead in the bottom of the first.

Harrison Eldridge led off with a double to right field. After moving to third on Dale Mollenhauer’s sacrifice bunt, Corey Kemp plated him when he grounded out to short.

Tulane started their half of the first off with consecutive hits, as Nate Simon singled to right and moved to third when Anthony Scelfo doubled to right field. East Carolina starter Josh Dowdy proceeded to balk, which forced in Simon and advanced Scelfo to third. The blunder cost the Pirates a run, as Scelfo would score on Cat Everett’s sacrifice fly to left.

With his team behind 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth and facing a bases loaded jam with only one out, East Carolina head coach Billy Godwin opted to bring in fireballer Shane Mathews. Mathews, who is usually the Pirates’ closer, had not appeared in the first two games of the series. He extinguished the fire in the fourth, but was touched for five runs over the next two innings. The junior righty surrendered three hits and also walked three batters.

ECU trailed 7-2 after six, but the Pirates exploded for six runs after there were two outs in the top of the seventh.

Ryan Wood and Jamie Ray had reached with one out singles, but were still on first and second after David Forbes flew out to right field. However, Harrison Eldridge came through with a RBI-single that cut the deficit to three and forced Tulane to pull starter David Gomes.

His exit started what turned out to be a revolving door to the Green Wave bullpen. First, Aaron Loup allowed a run-scoring single to Dale Mollenhauer. Next, Taylor Rogers allowed a 2 RBI-single to Corey Kemp. They then turned to stud stopper Daniel Latham, who shut down the Pirates on Friday night. He was greeted by Ryan Tousley, who connected on a two-run homer to give the Pirates the lead at 8-7.

Jason Neitz, who came on to record the last out in sixth, pitched very well for East Carolina. He delivered 2.2 scoreless innings and was given the luxury of pitching with a four-run lead after the Pirates scored three insurance runs in the top of the eighth off Daniel Latham. The lefty struck out Nate Simon to start the ninth, but then allowed a single to Anthony Scelfo and walked Cat Everett. With runners on first and second, ECU’s Godwin called on Brett Butts. Butts, who is normally a middle reliever, struck out Brad Emaus before getting Tim Guidry to ground out to second to end the game. The first year Pirate received the save.

The Pirates pounded out 18 hits in the contest and five players recorded multi-hit games. Senior Ryan Tousley led the way with his 5-of-5 and 4 RBI-effort, which included a two-run home run that gave ECU the lead. Dale Mollenhauer finished the day 4-of-4 with a triple and 2 RBI. Corey Kemp, Harrison Eldridge and Ryan Wood had two hits apiece. Kemp drove in four runs on the day.

Other ECU Baseball Notes:

• Although it certainly wanted to win more than one of three, East Carolina kept itself in fine position in the CUSA standings by winning Sunday’s game. The Pirates, who are 4-2, trail Houston (3-0), UAB (3-0), Rice (5-1) and Tulane (5-1).
• After Sunday’s come from behind victory, the Pirates have now rallied from five or more runs down in three of their last five wins.
• Third baseman/catcher Corey Kemp continues to have a solid first year with the Pirates, as his average is up to .289 after going 4-of-11 with a home run, double and 5 RBI against Tulane.

UP NEXT?
East Carolina will travel to NC State on Wednesday for its rematch with the Wolfpack. NCSU rallied to defeat ECU, 5-4, in 10 innings back on March 3 rd in the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at NCSU’s Doak Field.