Maness Masterful In Pirates Win, 4-1

April 11, 2009

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Sophomore Seth Maness tossed complete game three-hitter against top ranked Rice in No. 14 East Carolina's 4-1 win in game two of a three-game Conference USA series Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

With the win the Pirates (26-8, 9-2) halt a three-game skid, retake first place in the league standings and snap Rice's (24-8, 8-3) nine-game winning streak.

The right-handed Preseason C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Year threw exactly 100 pitches allowing one run (unearned) on three hits, fanning a season-high eight Owls with one walk. At one point Maness (4-0) retired 11 straight hitters and 20-of-21 from the last out of the second to the first in the ninth.

Taylor Wall dropped to 4-3 on the year after fanning nine batters in seven innings of work. He allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits and didn't issue a walk. Reliever Matt Evers tossed a perfect ninth frame to close out the game.

Rice jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second on Steven Sutlzbaugh's RBI single that plated Jimmy Comerota from second base. Comerota reached on a Ryan Wood throwing error and took second when Ryan Lewis walked before touching home.

ECU scored a pair of two out runs in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead. The Pirates loaded the bases with no outs before Devin Harris reached on a fielder's choice forcing Kyle Roller out at third and Stephen Batts at home. Drew Schieber collected his second hit of the day with a base knock to left field that plated Brandon Henderson from second. Dustin Harrington followed with another RBI single that pushed across Harris.

Whitehead's RBI single to center scored Harrington to give ECU a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning. Harrington singled to right center then moved to third on Jared Avchen's single through the left side setting up the third Pirate run of the game.

Batts pushed the Pirates lead to three, 4-1, when he took a first pitch offering over to left field for his team-leading ninth home run of the year.

ECU and Rice will play the rubber match of the series Sunday morning with a first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. (EDT).

Post-Game Notes:

Attendance: 4,014 (12th largest at Clark-LeClair Stadium).

The win over top-ranked Rice is ECU's first ever victory against a No. 1 ranked opponent, Since 1998, ECU is 45-78 against nationally-ranked programs.

ECU scored two runs with two outs to push its season total to 141, which is 42.2 percent of its runs (141-of-334).

ECU has scored two or more runs in an inning 76 times this season.

Ryan Wood's 19-game hitting streak came to an end after a 0-for-4 performance at the plate.

Kyle Roller was plunked in his second at-bat of the game and set the school's all-time record for hit by pitches (29). Roller set the single-season record earlier this season against N.C. State (4/1/09) and has been hit 15 times on the year.

Current Hit Streaks: Dustin Harrington (7), Stephen Batts (3), Drew Schieber (3), Trent Whitehead (3).

Career Multi-Hit Games: Stephen Batts (71), Drew Schieber (38), Dustin Harrington (37).

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