ECU Takes Series From South Carolina, 4-2

Feb. 28, 2010

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Brad Mincey rebounded from his rough outing last week scattering three hits over seven innings as No. 13 East Carolina (4-3) took the rubber match from No. 10 South Carolina (4-2) 4-2 Sunday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Mincey (1-1) faced 27 batters allowing one run (unearned), walked three and struck out five while reliever Seth Simmons picked up his first save of the year working a scoreless 1.2 innings with pair of punch outs. Mike Wright (0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R) and Patrick Somers (0.0 IP, 1 BB) bridged the gap from Mincey to Simmons.

Steven Neff (1-1) was saddled with the loss giving up four runs (three earned) in 3.2 innings, while true freshman Tyler Webb was lights out from the bullpen pitching 4.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

ECU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first thanks to three consecutive two-out hits from John Wooten (single), Austin Homan (RBI double) and Corey Thompson (2 RBI single). Dustin Harrington singled through the left side to extend his hitting streak to 15 games then took second on Wooten's base knock to right. Homan laced a shot down the left field line just over third base that plated Harrington for the first run of the contest. Thompson continued his run production when he blooped a single to right scoring both Wooten and Homan.

The Pirates increased their lead to 4-0 in the fourth despite not getting a hit. Devin Harris drew a leadoff walk, was balked over to second base, advanced to third on a failed pickoff by Neff and scored on a wild pitch with two outs.

South Carolina fought back scoring an unearned run in the seventh. Nick Ebert led off with a walk and advanced to second on a base hit up the middle by Robert Beary. Ebert then scored as Bobby Haney reached base on a fielder's choice. On the play, ECU's Cam Freeman couldn't turn the double play throwing low to Wooten at first allowing Ebert to score from third to home cutting the lead to 4-1.

The Gamecocks continued their rally in the eighth with another run and cut the deficit to 4-2. Whit Merrifield singled through the left side before a pinch-hit single by Jackie Bradley Jr. put runners on first and second with no outs. A one-out walk to Jeffrey Jones loaded the bases for South Carolina before Simmons entered the game for the Pirates fanning Ebert for the second out of the frame. Kyle Enders' infield single to short brought the Gamecocks within two before Simmons got Beary to fly out to right to end the game.

Offensively the Pirates out hit the Gamecocks 9-6 with Harrington leading the way with a 3-for-4 performance from the plate. All but two of ECU's regular starters recorded hits on the afternoon.

The Pirates will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to High Point for a 6 p.m. contest.

Post-Game Notes:

Attendance: 3743

With the win, the Pirates claim their first ever regular season series win over the Gamecocks ... Last year in the NCAA Greenville Regional, ECU took two of the three games played between the two schools ... It is also just the third series win over a Top 10 program since 1998 (No. 5 Houston/2002 and No. 7 Cal State Fullerton/2007 - all three series were in Greenville).

Brad Mincey improved to 1-1 on the season and 14-9 in his career.

Seth Simmons notched his 12th career save which ranks fourth all-time at ECU.

Dustin Harrington extended his current hitting streak to 15 games with his single in the first frame ... Currently he leads the team with a .393 (11-for-28) batting average.

Corey Thompson drove in two more runs on the day and finished the series with five to lead all hitters. He drove in at least one run in all three games ... It was his third career multi-RBI game.

Billy Godwin picked up his 165th win as the Pirate skipper and career victory 427.

Seven of ECU's nine starters collected at least one hit.

Over the three-game series, the Pirates pitching staff allowed 11 runs (six earned) compared to 19 to UVa in the opening series.

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