No. 18 Pirate Baseball Hosts Marshall
March 16, 2004 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - No. 18 East Carolina continues its home-stand when the Pirates host future Conference USA opponent Marshall Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Harrington Field. Junior right-hander Carter Harrell (3-1, 0.96 ERA) will make his fourth start for the Pirates.
ECU enters the mid-week game ranked as high as 18th in national collegiate polls. The Pirates are 18th by Baseball America, 22nd by the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches' Poll and 24th by Collegiate Baseball.
ECU plays its last nonconference game before starting up Conference USA play this weekend when the Pirates host No. 14 Tulane. East Carolina is coming off a three-game sweep of Charleston Southern last weekend, 9-0, 2-1 and 8-2. ECU pitchers combined for 29 strikeouts led by juniors Brody Taylor who posted a career-high 11 strikeouts and Greg Bunn who matched his career-high with 10 K's.
Sophomore third baseman Mark Minicozzi has been the hot Pirate lately. Minicozzi finished last week hitting .625 (10-for-16) including a three-run homer, two doubles, four runs scored and seven RBI. Red-shirt freshman Mike Grace launched his second home run of the season against CSU. Both of Grace's home runs this season have been three-run shots. ECU's last three homers have been three-run dingers.
Marshall (8-9) had a seven-game win sreak snapped at Liberty over the weekend. The Thundering Herd won the first game of the series, 8-5, but the dropped the final two games, 8-5, and 14-5. Marshall brings a .290 team batting clip and 6.33 team ERA to Greenville. Third baseman Adam Frederick and outfielder Francois Larmore lead the offense. Frederick is hitting .369 with three doubles and a team-high 18 RBI while Larmore has posted a .364 hitting clip with eight doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI. Right-hander Steve Ziroli will start on the mound for Marshall. Ziroli has made one appearance and posted a 2.45 ERA.
East Carolina and Marshall have only met twice on the diamond back in 1977. ECU swept a two-game series, 4-3, and, 2-1.
ECU will wrap up its home-stand this weekend when the Pirates host No. 14 Tulane in the Conference USA opener for both teams. Friday's game will start at 7 p.m. Game two of the series is at 6 p.m. Saturday while Sunday's finale will be played at 12:30 p.m.
