East Carolina University
Southern Miss
Maness Tosses Gem In Shutout Against USM, 4-0
May 28, 2011 | Baseball
May 28, 2011
Box Score 
l Live Chat Replay l Post-Game Quotes l ECU's C-USA Championship Stats
Coach Godwin Comments l Seth Maness Comments l Philip Clark Comments
PEARL, Miss. - Pirates ace Seth Maness struck out nine in a complete-game effort and his offense pounded out 11 hits as third-seeded East Carolina blanked No. 2 seed and regular-season co-champion Southern Miss 4-0 in the final pod contest of the 2011Conference USA Baseball Championship sponsored by Trustmark Friday evening at Trustmark Park.
ECU right fielder Philip Clark went 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of RBI to lead the Pirates' offensive efforts. The game, however, belonged to Maness as the senior right-hander faced just four more than the minimum and never saw more than four Golden Eagle hitters in any inning.
With the win, East Carolina improved to 39-19 on the year and 2-1 in Pod 2 action while Southern Miss fell to 39-16 overall and 1-2 in pod play. While neither team will advance to Saturday's C-USA Championship title game, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m. and televised live on CBS Sports Network, both have a chance to continue their seasons in next week's NCAA Regionals. The selection committee will announce the 16 host sites on Sunday and the 64-team field will be released nationally on Monday.
Maness (9-3) sat down the first eight batters he faced before giving up a two-out single in the third. He pitched his way out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the fourth with a fielders' choice ground ball and an inning-ending double play to start a streak of five consecutive batters retired.
After a leadoff double by Southern Miss centerfielder Justin Diliberto - the same guy who broke-up the no-hit bid back in the third - Maness tallied six consecutive outs and issued his lone walk of the day to first baseman Mark Ellis to open the eighth. That would be the final Golden Eagle to reach base safely as Maness sandwiched a pair of punch-outs around a fielders' choice groundout in the eighth and tossed a three-up, three-down ninth to wrap up his fourth complete game of the season and put the stamp on his second shutout of the year.
Maness' punch-out total gave him 330 for his career which ties the East Carolina record established by Larry Crayton from 1959-61. The decision was his 37th win, and Maness sits in second place on the C-USA all-time victory list - one shy of Jared Berkowitz of Tulane's 38 from 1997-2000.
Southern Miss starter Josh Thomason matched Maness step-for-step over the first four innings, but the East Carolina offense got things going in the top of the fifth when second baseman Mike Ussery hit a one-out single up the middle and came around to score on a double down the left field line by Clark in the ensuing at-bat. Third baseman Corey Thompson followed with an RBI-since to right central to make it 2-0.
Two innings later, first baseman John Wooten opened the seventh with a single, advanced the bases on a Jack Reinheimer sacrifice bunt and a groundout by Ussery, and scored on a Clark RBI-single to stretch the lead to three. Golden Eagles reliever Dillon Day nearly posted a perfect eighth by retiring the first two batters he faced and getting Fultz to strikeout swinging. The pitch, however, sailed wide of catcher Jared Bales, and the Pirates made the miscue hurt as designated hitter Chase McDonald smoked a 1-0 offering from Day into right centerfield to account for the final score.
Thomason (2-2) was saddled with the loss after giving up three runs on 10 hits while striking out three in a 7.0-inning start. Diliberto had two of the Golden Eagles' three hit hits.
Post-Tournament Notes:
- All-Time C-USA Championship Record: 17-16
- In its last 15 games, ECU is 12-3 with three shutouts (9 on the season - the most since the 2004 squad also blanked nine teams) ... During their 10-day road trip the Pirates went 5-1 with a road series sweep over Tulane (first-ever) and also defeated the Green Wave four times during that span.
- Senior Seth Maness tossed his sixth career complete game, second career complete game shutout and improved to 37-11 all-time on the hill ... He also posted his 24th career win against C-USA member schools and owns a career 24-5 ledger with a 3.39 ERA, 179 strikeouts and 45 walks.
- Junior third baseman Corey Thompson batted .467 (7-for-15) with a home run, seven RBI and three multi-hit games.
- Redshirt sophomore Philip Clark also batted over .400 (.429/6-for-14) with two RBI, three runs and two multi-hit games.
- ECU's offense pounded out double-digit hits in all three games for a total of 34 base knocks where they batted .301 on the weekend.
- With its win over Southern Miss, ECU has recorded 39-or more wins in 4 of 6 seasons under Head Coach Billy Godwin (40 in 2007, 42 in 2008 and 46 in 2009).
