No. 7 ECU Looks to Keep Streak Going Against Houston
April 29, 2004 | Baseball
ABOUT THE PIRATES
No. 7 East Carolina continues a seven-game home-stand when Conference USA foe Houston heads to Greenville. The Pirates reached the top 10 in all four national collegiate baseball polls this week including the No. 7 ranking which is the highest ranking in school history. ECU needed a walk-off two-run homer from Trevor Lawhorn to keep its school and conference record 16-game win streak alive. Darryl Lawhorn and Jamie Paige each went 8-for-17 (.471) last week in helping the Pirates to a perfect 4-0 week. Ryan Jones hit .429 in the four games last week. Jones leads the nation in slugging percentage (.969) with 36 of his 56 hits serving as extra-base hits including 17 doubles, four triples and 15 home runs. Sophomore second baseman Trevor Lawhorn brings a 17-game hitting streak into the weekend. He now has 19 homers on the season, which ranks second in the country. He leads the nation in home runs per game (0.49). As a team, the Pirates hit .323 while hitting .365 as a team in conference games.
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Houston comes to Greenville riding a seven-game winning streak after sweeping Cincinnati at home last weekend and picking up a win over Sam Houston State, 10-5, Tuesday. The Cougars have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation having played 20 of its 43 games against nationally ranked teams including four meetings with defending national champion Rice. Houston is 6-14 against ranked teams. Kevin Roberts leads the offense while hitting .389 with nine doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI. Conference USA Preseason selection Cole Bruce hits .351 with a team-high 13 doubles. Houston's pitching staff has compiled a 4.94 ERA anchored by Friday starter Matt Varner (5-3, 3.84 ERA). Roberts (3-3, 5.97 ERA) will start Saturday's game and right-hander Adam Sumerlin (2-0, 0.00 ERA) will make only his third start Sunday.
IN THE POLLS
East Carolina cracked the top 10 in all four national collegiate polls including the No. 7 ranking by Baseball America. The Pirates are 7th by Baseball America, 8th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association, 9th by the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches' Poll and 9th by Collegiate Baseball. The Pirates are also ranked 2nd among southeastern schools by SEBaseball.com. ECU stands at 15th in the College RPI index released by boydsworld.com
ECU - HOUSTON SERIES
ECU and Houston have met nine times on the diamond and the Pirates lead the series, 6-3. ECU took two of the three games last season in Houston and split two games with the Cougars in the Conference USA tournament. The teams met in Greenville in 2002 and ECU holds a 2-1 advantage at its home field.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE COUGARS
Jason Tourangeau tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout to propel East Carolina past Houston, 5-0, in a Conference USA Tournament elimination game. Tourangeau, making just his fourth start of the year, became the first pitcher in C-USA Tournament history to toss a complete-game, one-hit shutout. Greg Buchanan scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Matt Farrington in the bottom of the ninth. Trailing 1-0, Jamie Paige hit a solo home run off UH closer Ryan Wagner (4-5) to tie the game in the eighth in the first meeting in the tournament.
NOTING THE PIRATES
-Red-shirt freshman Mike Grace drove in a career-high six runs including his first career grand slam in the Pirates' 9-7 win over Louisville last Saturday. Of Grace's 13 hits this season, four are home runs as he has driven in 19 runs in 56 at-bats.
-ECU posted a season-high and school record 34 hits in the second game of the Cincinnati series and a season-high, school record and conference record 32 runs in the 32-14 victory over the Bearcats.
-Junior right-hander Matt Bishop has become a top choice out of the bullpen after recovering from surgery. Bishop has made nine appearances this season posting a 2.25 ERA. He has struck out 27 in 20 innings while holding opponents to five earned runs and has not walked one batter. Bishop is 3-0 with two saves.
-Since starting conference play, the Pirates are hitting .359 as a team in their last 21 games including 61 doubles and 50 home runs.
- ECU has been a second-half kind of team on offense in 2004. Of the Pirates 335 runs scored, 206 (61%) have come in or after the fifth inning. ECU has outscored opponents 58-19 in the fifth inning, 50-24 in the sixth inning, 29-12 in the seventh inning, 41-26 in the eighth and 27-9 in the ninth.
-The Pirates surpassed last season's total of 61 homers in 62 games. With 77 home runs already in 41 games, ECU is on pace to break the old school record of 85 homers set by the 2001 squad.
-The Pirates are riding a season-long 16-game win streak. ECU opened the season with 12 straight wins before Arizona State snapped it.
YOUNG ARMS OF STEEL
Through 41 games in 2004, East Carolina has already used five true freshmen pitchers. Right-handers Ricky Brooks (2-2, 5.34 ERA, 23 K's) and right-hander Shane Mathews (5-0, 2.79 ERA, 34 K's) worked their way into the starting rotation. Out of the bullpen, the Pirates have been counting on local product, right-hander Mike Flye (1-2, 3.15 ERA, 25 K's, 4 saves), left-hander Dustin Sasser (1-0, 5.55 ERA, 21 K's, 2 saves) and left-hander John Emmert (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 5 K's). The five combined are 9-4 posting a 4.01 ERA with six saves producing 108 strikeouts in 125.2 innings.
PIRATES EXTEND WIN STREAK
East Carolina set a new school and Conference USA record when the Pirates won their 16th straight game completing the series sweep of Louisville. The old school record of 15 straight occurred twice, once by the 1986 Pirate team and 1989 team. The 2001 Tulane held the previous conference mark winning 15-straight games.
UP NEXT
East Carolina will play the final game at Harrington Field when in-state rival UNC Wilmington comes to Greenville for a 7 p.m. first-pitch Tuesday.
