Pirates Out-Slug Tigers 12-10 In C-USA Opener

March 23, 2007

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Sophomore Drew Schieber connected on two home runs and Dale Mollenhauer's lone hit, a three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning, gave No. 22 East Carolina a 12-10 victory over Memphis in the Conference USA opener for both schools inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. The win marked the 11th in a row for the Pirates, currently the third-longest win streak in the nation.

The Pirates (17-6, 1-0) rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 12-10 advantage. Schieber led off with his second home run of the night, a shot to right field. Ryan Wood drew his second walk of the game then Harrison Eldridge doubled to left setting up Mollenhauer's three-run blast to right field, giving ECU the lead for good. ECU would tack on another run when Stephen Batts crossed home when Broc Sutton reached on a fielding error by the second baseman Bill Moss.

Shane Mathews collected his eighth save on the season pitching a scoreless ninth inning with a pair of punch outs. Brett Butts picked up his second win of the season after working three innings, allowing one on two hits. Pirate starter T.J. Hose lasted five innings, surrendered five runs on seven hits with three walks and one strikeout.

Matt Yokley got the loss for the Tigers (14-7, 0-1) after giving up two runs on one hit in the eighth inning. Starter Scott McGregor also went five innings, gave up seven run, on eight hits, while reliever Dusty Davis pitched two innings, allowing three runs on three hits.

Adam Amar, the reigning C-USA batting champion, gave Memphis and early 1-0 lead in the top of the second when he singled to center field scoring Joey Lieberman, who led off the inning with a double to left field.

In the top of the fourth, Lieberman padded the Tigers lead, 2-0, when he unloaded on a Hose 1-2 pitch to left.

ECU answered Memphis in the bottom of the fourth when Corey Kemp singled up the middle scoring Batts pulling the Pirates within one, 2-1. With one-out Batts singled up the middle, advanced to second on a passed ball, then third on a fielding error by McGregor before coming home on Kemp's single.

Batts gave the Pirates the lead in the bottom half of the fifth when he doubled to left field on a first pitch offering from McGregor that cleared the bases for a 4-2 ECU advantage. Drew Schieber singled through to the left side then stole second to start the inning, which was followed by a Ryan Wood free pass. Both runners moved up 90 feet on Harrison Eldridge's single to right loading the bases for Batts.

Memphis regained the lead in the top of the sixth after scoring eight runs, six with no outs, to take a 10-4 lead. Will Petersen singled to center, which was followed by a Bill Moss walk, then another free pass by Lieberman to load the bases for Kyle Norrid.

After a Pirate pitching change brought Jason Neitz to the mound, Norrid, Michael Murray and Adam Amar each singled in runs on first pitch offerings, then Josh Irvin cleared the bases with a deadly double to left that cleared the bases. ECU went with another pitching change brining in Brett Butts, who fanned Chris Kirkland and got Petersen to fly out to center. Moss kept the inning alive when he reached on a third strike wild pitch, before Lieberman singled to left driving in two more Tiger runs.

Schieber drew the Pirates within three with one swing of the bat making the score 10-7 in favor of Memphis with no outs. Kemp led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, Jake Dean followed with a single to right, which was promptly followed by a Schieber home run, his second of the season. Wood and Eldridge followed the blast with a single and double to right and Mollenhauer drew a walk to load the bases for Batts, who grounded into a 5-2-3 double play. Dusty Davis got out of the inning when he forced Tousley to pop out to left.

ECU and Memphis will meet for game two of the three-game series Saturday night at 6 p.m.

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