East Carolina University
Pepperdine
ECU Takes Series From Pepperdine, 7-4
March 05, 2011 | Baseball
March 5, 2011
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Senior Brad Mincey held Pepperdine in check in game two of the day-night twin bill working a career-best 7.2 innings of relief in East Carolina's series clinching win, 7-4, Saturday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 7-3, while the Waves fall to 5-6.
After suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in 11 innings just an hour earlier in the day, Zach Woods was poised to help the Pirates pick up their second series win of the young season. But the Waves had something else in mind as they jumped all over the senior right-hander from Virginia Beach, Va. taking a commanding 4-0 lead in the first frame. Woods exited quietly after working just one-third of an inning where he allowed five of the first six hitters to reach base.
Mincey got the Pirates out of the jam getting Cody Yount, nephew of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount, and Joe Server to ground out to short to stop the bleeding. The senior from Wilmington, N.C. struck out three, walked one and allowed eight hits on the way to his 17th career win. Seth Simmons came on to work a perfect ninth frame recording a pair of strikeouts and collecting his second save of the season and 22nd of his career to move within one of the all-time record of 23, which is held by former ECU fireman Cory Scott.
Eric Karch (1-2) suffered the loss allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits in three innings of work. Alex Najera scattered six hits in five innings of relief allowing a run and striking out three.
The Pirates responded in the bottom half of the frame scoring three runs to pull within one, 4-3. Trent Whitehead, who broke out of his 0-for-16 slump with a single in the 11th during game one, roped a single up the middle to start the frame. With one out, Whitehead moved into scoring position with the first of his two stolen bases and came around to score on Chase McDonald's two-out RBI single down the right field line. Zack Wright followed with a walk and Chris Gosik singed to right field scoring McDonald from second and Wright crossed the plate when catcher Nate Johnson couldn't handle the throw from the right fielder, Harrison Kain.
John Wooten's RBI single to left knotted the game at four in the second inning. Tim Younger doubled to center with one out and after Corey Thompson reached on an error putting runners at the corners, Wooten drilled a 2-2 offering to left field plating Younger.
ECU pushed across a pair of runs in the sixth and took its first lead of the contest. Mike Ussery, who is hitting .444 (8-for-18) on the season, singled to right, moved to second on Younger's walk and landed on third when Whitehead reached on a fielder's choice sac bunt to load the bases for Thompson's RBI single to right. After a Pepperdine pitching change, Wooten reached on a fielder's choice scoring Younger and staking the Pirates to a 6-4 lead.
Wooten gave the Pirates an insurance run in the seventh when he singled down the right field line scoring Whitehead for a 7-4 advantage. Whitehead led off the frame with a single to left then advanced to second on Thompson's ground out and stole third on the next pitch.
The Pirates will be back in action on Tuesday, March 8 when the travel to Campbell before returning home for the first of four-straight home games on Wednesday, March 9 against High Point. Later in the week, ECU will host the Eighth Annual Keith LeClair Classic starting Friday, March 11.
