East Carolina University
Memphis
Pirates Sprint Past Tigers Late, 9-4
May 14, 2009 | Baseball
May 14, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Jared Avchen's RBI single in the bottom of the eighth sparked a five-run inning that gave No. 20 East Carolina a 9-4 win over Memphis Thursday night in game one of a three-game Conference USA series. With the win the Pirates improve to 39-15 overall and 15-7 in league play, while Memphis drops to 21-30 and 7-14.
Tied at four in the eighth, ECU broke the game open thanks in part to six hits that produced five runs. Devin Harris led off the inning with a single through the left side to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Dustin Harrington followed with his third base knock of the game, a single through the left side putting runners at first and second setting up Avchen's one-out game-winning single to right that scored pinch runner Cam Freeman from second.
Trent Whitehead laced his fourth hit of the night to right scoring Harrington for a 6-4 advantage. After Ryan Wood moved Avchen and Whitehead up 90 feet on a deep fly ball to center, his second of the evening, Stephen Batts sent a 3-0 change-up to center clearing the bases to extend the lead to 8-4. The Pirates final run came off the bat of Kyle Roller, who singled home Batts from second after he swiped his 18th base of the year.
Seth Simmons (3-1) notched his third win of the season in relief after working the final two frames where he gave up just one hit and struck out one. Starter Chris Heston fanned seven Tigers through six innings, while surrendering all four runs on seven hits. Freshman Kevin Brandt made his 19th appearance out of the bull pen allowing a hit and striking out one in an inning of work.
Duke Williams (1-1) suffered the loss giving up six runs on five hits with three punch outs. Brach Davis had the Pirate hitters off balance through five full innings and ended up allowing two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts in six innings of work. Garrett Hachtel recorded the final two outs, but not before being saddled with a run on two hits.
Memphis sprinted out to an early 2-0 lead in the first on three consecutive Tiger hits. With one out, Tyler Huelsing singled up the middle, which was followed by back-to-back doubles from Adam McClain and Shawn Ablett that scored Huelsing and McClain.
The Tigers extended the lead to three, 3-0, in the second on a Drew Martinez RBI single to center that scored Jacob Wilson, who drew a two-out walk.
Huelsing's second hit of the game put the Tigers up 4-0 in the fifth. Wilson led off with a double to left-center and crossed home on Huelsing's single up the middle.
Home runs by Harrington and Whitehead highlighted a four-run seventh that knotted the game at four. Harrington took a first pitch offering to straight away center field to lead off the inning for his 11th home run of the season and fourth in the last five games. Drew Schieber followed with a single and Avchen was plunked in the back setting up Whitehead's third hit of the game, a three-run shot down the right field line.
Offensively the Pirates pounded out 14 hits, with eight of those coming in the final two innings. Whitehead went 4-or-5 from the dish with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Harrington (3), Roller (2) and Avchen (2) also registered multi-hit games.
The Pirates and Tigers will play game two of the series Friday night with a first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. (EDT). Fans should arrive early as Head Coach Billy Godwin and his staff will honor seven seniors starting around 5:40 p.m.
Post-Game Notes:
