Pirates Dominate No. 21 Clemson, Win 10-0
February 20, 2005 | Baseball
Sophomore Mike Flye gave the Pirates their second consecutive solid start in tourney play, following P.J. Connelly's win Saturday over West Virginia.
Flye, making his first collegiate start at ECU, earned his second win of the season throwing seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits and two walks while striking out five. T.J. Hose came in relief of Flye, pitching two innings, allowing no hits and striking out one.
Billy Richardson led the Pirates offensively, going 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Mark Minicozzi also collected two RBI on two hits including a solo homerun. Drew Costanzo (2-for-5, two RBI) and Jamie Ray (2-for-4, one run) also collected multiple hits for ECU. Harrison Eldridge also batted 1-for-3 with three RBI. The Pirates finished with 12 hits while the Tigers committed four errors in the field.
Kris Harvey took the loss for the Tigers, pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs while striking out four. Jeff Hahn, Daniel Moskos, Stephen Clyne and Chris Howard all pitched in relief of Harvey for the Tigers.
Clemson only collected three hits, those coming off the bats of Taylor Harbin, Travis Storrer and Stan Widmann.
Mike Grace started off the ECU second inning with a single to left and after advancing to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a Jake Smith single to shallow center. With runners on the corners, Adam Witter brought home Grace with a sacrifice fly to center. The next two batters, Ray and Brett Lindgren, each singled to load the bases. Eldridge then grounded to second, scoring Smith from third to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead after two innings of play.
Minicozzi added the Pirates' third run in the bottom of the third with a homerun to the deepest part of the park in left-center. In the bottom of the fourth ECU added two runs to take a 5-0 lead. The first run came when Drew Costanzo singled to right, scoring Lindgren, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. Minicozzi then collected his second RBI on single to center, scoring Richardson who reached earlier on a single to left.
The Pirates continued to score in the bottom of the fifth, adding two runs when Harrison Eldridge singled up the middle with the bases loaded, scoring Witter and Ray. Richardson then singled down the leftfield line, scoring Lindgren and Eldridge. The next batter Costanzo then tripled over the Travis Storrer's head in right, scoring Richardson to give ECU a 10-0 advantage after five.
The Pirates will travel to Charleston, S.C., next weekend for the second time this season to play in the Homewood Suites Shootout versus West Virginia, N.C. State and tournament host, The Citadel.
ECU will face West Virginia for the second time this season on Friday, Feb. 25 at 12 p.m., while Saturday's game will match the Pirates up with N.C. State at 11 a.m. East Carolina will close the Shootout with a matchup against The Citadel at 3 p.m. Sunday. All games will be played at Joe Riley Park, adjacent to The Citadel campus on the banks of the Ashley River.
