East Carolina University
Rice
ECU Rally Falls Short Against Rice, 5-4
April 12, 2009 | Baseball
April 12, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Brandon Henderson stepped up to the plate with two on and two outs trailing by one, 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth and flied out to center ending No. 14 East Carolina's rally Sunday afternoon against top ranked Rice at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The win moves the Owls (25-8, 9-3) and Pirates (26-9, 9-3) into a tie for first in Conference USA with Rice holding the tie breaker due to a 2-1 series win.
With a pair of outs on the board in the ninth, Stephen Batts singled up the middle and Kyle Roller followed with a single through the left side setting up the Henderson - Jordan Rogers showdown at the dish. Henderson moved quickly ahead in the count as Rogers threw consecutive balls, one in the dirt and one high and outside. Rogers then got Henderson to chase a pitch in the dirt pushing the count to 2-1. After a third ball, Henderson went around on a check swing to move the count to 3-2. Henderson then laced a shot just to the right of Steven Sultzbaugh for the final out of the game.
Mike Ojala and Jordan Rogers combined to fan 12 ECU batters with Ojala sitting down 10 in five innings of work. He scattered four hits, including a Henderson solo shot in the second, and walked just one in his first appearance since March 20 to improve to 2-0 on the season. Rogers picked up his sixth save of the year after allowing three runs on six hits in four innings. Sandwiched between Ojala and Rogers was Matthew Reckling who faced one batter issuing a walk before being pulled for Rogers.
Brad Mincey suffered the loss falling to 7-2 after going 5 2/3 innings where he gave up four runs (all earned) on eight hits with four punch outs and two walks. Lefty Patrick Somers faced one batter, while Sthil Sowers allowed three hits and a run in two-thirds of an innings. Bailey Daniels walked the only batter he faced on four straight pitches before being lifted for Kevin Brandt, who did not allow a hit in 2 2/3 innings.
ECU struck early, 1-0, in the second when Henderson led off the frame with a solo shot to left field, his fifth home run of the season.
Rice then took a 3-1 led in the fourth thanks to four Owl hits. Diego Seastrunk reached on a fielder's choice then moved to second on Jimmy Comerota's infield single. The designated hitter, Craig Manuel, knotted the game at one with an RBI single to right the moved Comerota over to third. Sultzbaugh pushed a bunt to the right side of the pitcher's mound for the Owls second run of the game scoring Comerota. After another fielder's choice put Rice runners on the corner, Brock Holt singled through the right side pushing across Manuel for a 3-1 advantage.
The Owls tacked on an insurance run, 5-1, in the sixth when Rick Hague hit a bases loaded line shot right back up the middle that hit off Sowers and scored Jeremy Rathjen.
ECU pulled within one, 5-4, when Devin Harris planted a 2-0 offering over the left field wall scoring both Roller and Henderson in the eighth frame. Roller was plunked by a Rogers pitch then took second on Henderson's third base knock of the day.
The Pirates will be back in action this week when they host a pair of midweek games in Campbell (Tuesday) and N.C. State (Wednesday) before resuming C-USA action on Friday at Tulane.
