Pirates Travel To Wilmington
April 05, 2011 | Softball
April 5, 2011
| East Carolina Game 39: UNC Wilmington | |
| Date | Wednesday, April 6 |
| Time | 5:00 p.m. ET |
| Location | Wilmington, N.C. (Boseman Field) |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | UNC Wilmington |
| Statistics | East Carolina | UNC Wilmington |
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Following its first Conference USA series sweep of the season last weekend at Southern Miss, East Carolina (28-10) continues its road swing Wednesday with a 5:00 p.m. nonconference game at rival UNC Wilmington (8-28). Earlier this week, the Pirates collected four votes in the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls.
Last weekend, East Carolina won all three games at Southern Miss with senior Toni Paisley throwing her sixth career no-hitter in the opener. Junior Suzanne Riggs powered the offense, driving in two runs in each contest. Monday, the pair was named the Conference USA Pitcher-of-the-Week and Hitter-of-the-Week, respectively. Freshman Jasmine Robbins chipped in with a career game Sunday, driving in a personal-best three runs and matching her high with two hits.
The Pirates Against The Seahawks
In UNC Wilmington, East Carolina faces a very familiar foe as the teams have played each other 89 times, the most the Pirates have seen of any opponent in program history. ECU holds a 76-13 advantage in the all-time series with the teams playing each other at least once a year since 1985. The Pirates have won the last 12 meetings, including four shutouts, while outscoring the Seahawks 89-13. East Carolina has not dropped a road game at UNCW since April 19, 2001.
Earlier this season in Greenville, the Pirates opened the ECU Softball Stadium with an 8-0 victory in six innings over the Seahawks. During the Feb. 16 contest, freshman Kristi Oshiro went 3-4 and scored twice while Riggs drove in two runs and scored one. Paisley recorded the victory, allowing one hit and striking out eight in five innings. Junior Faith Sutton threw a perfect sixth in relief.
Last season in Greenville, the Pirates picked up 3-0 and 7-1 victories. In the first contest, Paisley struck out seven and allowed only a single to Brianne Lofton in the top of the sixth. For the offense, Kaui Tom scored the game-winning run on an RBI single from Nicole Jordan and Cristen Aona drove in a pair with a fifth-inning double. In game two, Marina Gusman-Brown drove in three runs and scored twice while Kai Clark had two hits in support of Sutton's two-hit complete game. Sutton also struck out a career-high 11 batters in the contest.
Dominate The State
The Pirates will be looking to continue their recent success against teams from North Carolina as they have won the last 16 contests against in-state foes, outscoring them 103-12.
East Carolina defeated UNC Greensboro twice and Campbell once near the end of 2009 and went 11-0 versus Campbell, N.C. Central, UNC Greensboro, N.C. State, UNC Wilmington and Elon last season. So far this season, the Pirates have defeated UNC Wilmington 8-0 in the ECU Softball Stadium opener Feb. 16 and topped Campbell 6-0 Feb. 27.
Paisley Named Conference USA Pitcher-of-the-Week
After going 2-0 last weekend and throwing a near perfect game in the series opener Saturday, Paisley was named the Conference USA Co-Pitcher-of-the-Week. She settled for the sixth no-hitter of her career as a fielding error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning ended the bid for perfection. The six no-hitters leave her one behind DePaul's Lindsay Chouinard (2000-03) for the all-time C-USA record. Paisley struck out 12 in the contest, 10 from the third inning on. The Lakewood, Calif., native followed with another victory Sunday, allowing four singles and a run while striking out eight. For the series, she struck out 20 and issued one walk as the Golden Eagles hit only .089 against her.
Tied For The Most C-USA Awards
Monday's selection as the Conference USA Pitcher-of-the-Week was the 16th of Paisley's career. She is now tied with Houston hurler Angel Shamblin (2005-08) and Chouinard for the most all-time selections for a C-USA softball player.
Riggs Is Conference USA Hitter-Of-The-Week
During last weekend's series at Southern Miss, Riggs powered the Pirate offense to the series sweep of the Golden Eagles and was rewarded with her first career Conference USA Hitter-of-the-Week award. The left fielder drove in two runs during each of the three games and led the Pirates with a .500 batting average, five hits, two doubles, a .700 slugging percentage and a .583 on-base percentage. She drew two walks during the series and did not strike out.
The Greenville product delivered the game-winning run Sunday and leads the team with six contest-deciding RBI this season. In addition, she set her career high for a Conference USA game with two hits during the second and third contests.
A Trip To Hattiesburg Means No Hits
Paisley's no-hitter Saturday in Hattiesburg was her second in the last three starts at Southern Miss. During the March 14, 2009, opener, Paisley no-hit the Golden Eagles in a 2-1 victory.
A Jazzy Production
During the Sunday finale at Southern Miss, Robbins turned in a career day, driving in a personal-best three runs and matching her high with two hits. After lining out to right field in her first at-bat, Robbins had a pair of singles to center. The first drove in two runs and the second plated another.
The Indian Trail, N.C., native leads the Pirates with a .357 batting average and .471 on-base percentage in Conference USA games. Robbins is the only starter who has not struck out in a league contest. In her last six starts, she has five hits, four runs scored and a .385 batting average.
