East Carolina University
Marshall
Thompson Hits For Cycle In 11-4 Win
April 30, 2010 | Baseball
April 30, 2010
GREENVILLE, N.C. -Sophomore Corey Thompson recorded a game-high four hits going 4-for-5 from the plate, which included hitting for the cycle, and Zach Woods worked a season-high eight innings with eight strikeouts as East Carolina took the opening game of a three-game Conference USA series from Marshall 11-4 Friday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 26-17 overall and 7-6 in league play, while The Herd drops to 20-23 and 9-7.
Thompson, who raised his average 14 points to .380, roped a triple down the right field line in the third inning after striking out in his first at-bat of the night. The Apex, N.C. native followed with a solo home run in the fifth on an 11-pitch at-bat that broke a two-all tie and gave the Pirates the lead, which they would never relinquish. In the seventh, he singled to right center and finished his second career four-hit performance with a double to right center recording the first cycle of his career.
After a rough outing last week at Rice, Woods (6-2) was locked in scattering five hits over eight frames which included three over the final six innings. The Virginia Beach, Va. native allowed back-to-back home runs in the second inning followed by a walk before fanning two of the next three batters to get out of the frame. In all he allowed three runs, two earned with a pair of walks and retired the side in order five times. Mike Wright made his 16th appearance working the ninth allowing one run on two hits with a strikeout.
Ian Kadish (2-4) suffered the loss allowing six runs (all earned) on 11 hits with four punch outs in six innings of work. Kyle Blank gave up one run, walked a batter and recorded one out before giving way to James White for the final 1 2/3 innings. White was touched for four runs (two earned) on three hits.
Victor Gomez and James Lavinskas hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning on 1-2 counts to give Marshall and early 2-0 advantage.
But the Marshall shutout lasted one inning as Thompson plated the Pirates first run of the night on a three-base hit that got past the first baseman and rolled to the right field fence scoring Cam Freeman from second, cutting the lead to one 2-1. Philip Clark and Freeman reached on consecutive singles before Clark was thrown out by Gomez trying to advance to third on a dropped ball at the plate. Freeman moved into scoring position after swiping his 12th base of the year with two outs.
Consecutive singles by John Wooten, Austin Homan and Devin Harris tied the game at two in the fourth inning. Wooten reached on an infield single, Homan followed with a single through the left side and Harris brought Wooten home on an RBI single up the middle.
Thompson gave ECU its first lead of the contest when he stroked a ball to left center breaking a 2-2 tie in the fifth. For Thompson it was his fifth homer of the season and second in three games.
After three straight singles by Homan, Harris and Zach Wright to open the sixth frame, the Pirates took a 5-2 advantage on Freeman's RBI sac fly that pushed across Homan and a wild pitch that scored Harris.
ECU broke the game open plating two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth taking a commanding 11-3 lead. Thompson scored on a wild pitch and Harris pushed Kyle Roller across on a ground out to short for the Pirates two runs in the seventh. Whitehead singled through the left side in the eighth scoring Clark and Thompson's double to right center scored Whitehead. The final two Pirate runs came when Thompson scored on a field error and Roller crossed home when Chris Gosik reached on a fielder's choice.
Offensively the Pirates recorded double-digits in hits (14) for the 26th time this season. Joining Thompson with multiple hits were Clark, Harris and Homan all with two base knocks each. Roller, who was 0-for-1officially from the dish, was the only starter that didn't record a hit. But the first baseman managed to get on base four times raising his on-base percentage seven points to .540 after being hit by a pitch and walking three times.
The two teams will continue the weekend series Saturday, May 1 with a first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. (EDT).
