Harris And Maness Shine In ECU's Win, 8-1

Thursday, May 27

Houston, Texas

12:00 PM

East Carolina University

Southern Miss

May 27, 2010 | Baseball

May 27, 2010

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

ECU 8, USM 1 (PDF) l ECU-USM Quotes (PDF)

HOUSTON, Texas - One day after dropping a lopsided decision to the regular-season league champion, sixth-seeded East Carolina bounced back in a big way to defeat No. 2 seed Southern Miss 8-1 to open day two of the 2010 Conference USA Baseball Championship Thursday afternoon at the University of Houston's Cougar Field.

The Pirates got the job done both at the plate and on the mound as left fielder Devin Harris went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs and a career-high five RBI while Seth Maness fanned eight in a solid 7.2 inning start. Harris was one of four East Carolina players to post multiple-hit performances as shortstop John Wooten went 3-for-5 while third baseman Corey Thompson and designated hitter Austin Homan tallied two hits apiece.

With the win, East Carolina improves to 32-26 on the year and can clinch a spot in Saturday's league championship game with a win tomorrow against Memphis. Southern Miss dropped to 33-22 for the season with the loss, but can still earn a berth in the C-USA Championship game with a win tomorrow vs. host Houston and a Memphis win over the Pirates.

Maness had a no-hitter going through five innings before giving up a leadoff double to Southern Miss right fielder Tyler Koelling to open the sixth. The reigning C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Year shook off the bump in the road to remain effective throughout his time toeing the rubber, giving up just one unearned run on five hits and a walk to improve to 10-3. Maness is now 18-3 against C-USA teams during his time with the Pirates and picked up his 28th career win, which ranks fourth all-time in C-USA history and tied for fourth in the ECU career record book.

Harris, meanwhile, went yard in each of his first two at-bats - belting a solo home run in the second to open the scoring and crushing a grand slam in the third to put the Pirates on top, 5-0. Following a scoreless fourth, East Carolina stretched the lead to 8-0 in the fifth courtesy of an RBI-single by Homan, a run-scoring fielder's-choice groundout off the bat of second baseman Cam Freeman and a throwing error by the Southern Miss defense.

The Golden Eagles avoided the shutout in the eighth when second baseman Taylor Walker reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to second on a single by shortstop B.A. Vollmuth and came around to score in an RBI-knock by designated hitter Adam Doleac.

Koelling and centerfielder Dillon Day posted two hits each to lead Southern Miss. Lost in the shuffle of East Carolina's win was a solid relief effort by Golden Eagles' hurler Mandella Mingo, who came out of the bullpen to scatter three hits and strike out two in 3.0 scoreless innings.

Southern Miss starter Geoffrey Thomas was tagged with the loss after giving up five runs on four hits and four walks while fanning a pair in 2.1 frames. The Pirates also tagged Cody Schlagel for three runs (two earned) on four hits and a free pass over the next 2.0 innings.

East Carolina's championship game-deciding contest against Memphis will open day three of the C-USA Championship tomorrow at noon (EDT).

Post-Game Notes:

Seth Maness recorded his 10th win of the season tying Southern Miss hurler Scott Copeland for the league lead ... He improved to 10-3 on the season and 28-8 in his career ... The victory moved him into sole possession of fourth place on C-USA's all-time wins list and a tie for fourth place in ECU's annuals ... Recorded his team-leading eight quality start.

Devin Harris recorded his third career multi-HR game after hitting a solo shot in the second and a grand slam in the third, which was the first of his career ... He tied his career high with five RBI and picked up his 39th career multi-hit and 28th multi-RBI games ... Recorded his second game-winning RBI of the season and 11th of his career.

Kyle Roller was 0-for-3 at the dish, but pushed his season walk total to 61 after receiving a pair of free passes.

Freshman John Wooten led the Pirates with three hits, his 19th multi-hit game of the season ... In all the Pirates had four players with two or more hits.

ECU posted its 34th double-digit hitting performance of the season with its 11 base knocks.

Harris' grand slam in the third was the Pirates sixth of the season tying the 2008 club.

The Pirates have now recorded at least one win in all nine C-USA Tournament appearances since its first season in the league (2002) where they were the No. 6 seed and claimed their only C-USA Tournament Championship.