East Carolina University
Southern Miss
USM Takes Series From ECU 8-2
May 08, 2010 | Baseball
May 8, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Todd McInnis allowed two runs on four hits and struck out eight in eight innings of work and got solid hitting from his offense in the tune of 14 hits as Southern Miss walked away with an 8-2 win over East Carolina Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park. With the win the Golden Eagles take the season series and improve to 28-17 overall and 10-7 in Conference USA play, while the Pirates fall to 27-10 and 8-9 in league play.
In a battle between a pair of 2009 first-team All C-USA performers and the last two C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Year award winners, McInnis (5-4) got the upper hand on Seth Maness (8-3) and picked up his fourth consecutive win of the season. The right-hander's only mistake on the afternoon was leaving a first pitch offering up and over the middle of the plate to Jared Avchen, who sent a line drive shot just fair down the right field line for a two-run homer. McInnis retired the side in the first, second and punched out all three batters in the seventh. Paxton King entered the game in the ninth and allowed one hit with a walk to preserve the win.
Maness suffered his first loss in his last nine starts after allowing six runs (three earned) on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. The Pinehurst, N.C. native struck out four and walked one, but was hurt defensively as the Pirates committed three errors that led to three runs, two in the first inning. Freshman Jake Harris was touched for two runs (both earned) on two hits in two-third's of an inning before being lifted for Shawn Armstrong, who tossed a scoreless 1 2/3 innings with a strikeout to close the game.
Southern Miss capitalized on a throwing error by third baseman Corey Thompson, which scored a pair of runs in the first inning, putting the Golden Eagles up 2-0. Kameron Brunty singled to right field and B.A. Vollmuth moved him over to third with a one-out double to left center before Ellis reached on Thompson's errant throw that cleared the bases.
Brunty pushed across the game-winning run in the second on a ground out to first that scored Travis Graves third for a 3-0 advantage. Graves roped a one-out double off the left field wall that was inches away from being caught by Devin Harris and took third when Tyler Koelling swiped second base.
The score remained 3-0 until Avchen pulled the Pirates within one, 3-2, in the top of the fifth on his fifth round-tripper of the year that plated Zach Wright just ahead of him.
Southern Miss answered with three runs in the bottom half of the frame and extended its lead to 6-2 four hits and the second of three errors by ECU. Adam Doleac doubled to left to start in the inning then was replaced by pinch runner Marc Bourgeois, who took third when Mark Ellis reached on a fielding error by Avchen. Dillon Day singled up the middle to score Marc Bourgeois for the first run of the frame. After Joey Archer grounded out on a sac bunt back to Maness that pushed the runners up 90-feet, Graves loaded the bases when he laid down a bunt in front of Wright at the plate. Koelling followed with a single to right center scoring both Ellis and Day.
Graves padded USM's lead with a two-RBI single to center that once again scored Ellis and Day for an 8-2 advantage.
The Pirates were held to just five hits on the afternoon, tying their lowest hit total of the season (Cal State Northridge on Mar. 10 and Rice on Apr. 24). Kyle Roller was 1-for-3 with a walk, which moved him into a tie for first place on the single-season walks list with 52. Trent Whitehead extended his current hitting streak to eight games with a single up the middle in the eighth and Cam Freeman pushed his hit streak to seven games in the third stanza.
ECU will look to salvage a game in the series when they return to action Sunday afternoon against Southern Miss with a first pitch scheduled for Noon (EDT).
