East Carolina University
Louisiana-Lafayette
Maness Wins Fifth Straight Start, 3-1
May 02, 2009 | Baseball
May 2, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Seth Maness allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings with three strikeouts to lead No. 21 East Carolina (34-14) to a 3-1 win over Louisiana-Lafayette (21-24-1) Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Maness, who improved to 7-0 on the season, gave up a run in the first inning on a two-out double by Chad Keefer then settled down for his fifth consecutive win of the year. In all, he allowed seven hits and walked just one while facing 29 hitters and throwing 94 pitches. Kevin Brandt made an appearance out of the bullpen working a lefty-on-left situational matchup walking the lone batter he faced before Seth Simmons retired the final four hitters of the game for his eighth save.
Justin Robichaux suffered the loss falling to 1-2 on the season after allowing three runs on six hits in six full innings with three walks and two strikeouts. Luke Wagley entered the contest in the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings fanning three and allowing two hits.
The Cajuns struck first on the afternoon taking an early 1-0 lead on a two-out double down the right field line off the bat of Keefer. Alex Fuselier led off the frame with a walk then moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by Kyle Olasin.
Kyle Roller's RBI single to left with two outs scored Ryan Wood from second and Stephen Batts come around on a Thad Griffin error to give ECU a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Wood singled to left center then took second when Batts reached on a fielding error by the third baseman Chad Keefer. Roller lined a shot to right field for his 56th RBI of the season. Batts moved to third on Roller's at-bat then scored on an errant throw by the catcher trying to gun Roller out at second that sailed into center field.
Offensively the Pirates collected eight hits with Dustin Harrington leading the way with two. Wood extended his current hitting streak to eight games with a 1-for-3 performance at the dish, while Devin Harris' hit streak moved to seven games after going 1-for-3 as well.
Game three of the non-conference series has been moved up an hour and will start at 11 a.m. (EDT) due to the potential of inclement weather.
