Pirates Roll Past Tigers, 20-9

April 10, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Senior Kyle Roller tied his career-high with five hits and drove in four runs to help No. 27 East Carolina to a 20-9 win over Memphis Saturday afternoon at FedEx Park. With the win the Pirates (19-12, 2-3) even the series with the Tigers (14-17, 5-3) setting up the rubber-match tomorrow afternoon with a first pitch at 1 p.m. (EDT).

Roller, who was 5-for-6 and scored three runs, was one of six Pirates with multiple hits and multiple RBI on the afternoon. Jared Avchen, Philip Clark, Trent Whitehead and Zach Wright each had three hits, while Corey Thompson added a two-hit performance. John Wooten, who smacked his fifth home run and first career grand slam, tied Roller and Wright with four RBI on the day.

Pirate starter Seth Maness (6-2) picked up his sixth straight win as a starter and improved his career record in Conference USA play to 14-1 in 18 starts. The right-hander worked six innings allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks and moved into 13th place on C-USA's all-time wins list with 24. A trio of hurlers completed the final three frames with Patrick Somers going 1/3 innings, Mike Anderson tossed one inning allowing three runs on one hit and Mike Wright finished the game fanning three over the final 1 2/3 frames.

Ryan Fraser suffered his first loss of the year, falling to 3-1 after being roughed up for 10 runs (all earned) on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings. Jonathan Jones allowed one run in 1 2/3 innings, while Brandon Showmar was tagged for five runs (one earned) on five hits in 1 2/3 innings and Ben Paullus didn't record an out surrendering three runs on one hit with two walks. Right-hander Marc Ashley was the only stable pitcher for the Tigers allowing one run on three hits in three innings of work.

After Memphis took an early 1-0 lead in the first off Chad Zurcher's third home run of the season, the Pirates responded with seven runs in the top of the second and never looked back. Clark started the scoring when he singled down the left field line with one out and advanced to second on a failed pickoff by Fraser. Avchen followed with a single to left scoring Clark to knot the game at one. Whitehead reached on an infield single and Thompson loaded the bases with another single. Roller put ECU ahead for good when he was plunked for the 50th time in his career (school record) scoring Avchen. Wright followed with the first of his two walks plating Whitehead for a 3-1 advantage.

With two outs in the frame, Wooten stepped up to the plate and cleared the bases on an opposite field grand slam for a 7-1 lead. Wooten, who hit the Pirates fifth grand slam of the season, redeem himself after ending the first frame with the bases loaded when he struck out swinging.

Back-to-back RBI doubles by Roller and Wright high-lighted the Pirates three-run third that pushed the lead to 10-1. Roller's two-bagger to left center scored Avchen and Thompson and Wright's double plated Roller.

Trey Wiedman smacked the first of his two home runs on the day, a two run shot, and Zurcher reached on a fielder's choice scoring Phillip Chapman cutting the Pirates lead to 11-4 in the fourth.

Wiedman added a solo shot to straight-away center in the fifth pulling the Tigers within six, 11-5, before the Pirates scored five in the sixth inning and four in the seventh taking a commanding 20-5 win.

The Tigers would add a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth to cap the scoring at 20-9.

Offensively the Pirates pounded out 22 hits, the second most this season behind their 25-hit performance against N.C. Central on Mar. 26. Nine players recorded at least one hit and Austin Homan extended his current hit streak to nine games with his RBI double in the sixth inning.

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