Baseball Looks To Salvage Series Against No. 19 UCF
March 23, 2012 | Baseball
March 25, 2012
 vs.  |
| No. 25 East Carolina vs. No. 19 UCF Mar. 25, 2012 | 1 p.m. (EST) Orlando, Fla. RADIO: WNCT 1070 AM |
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Week Five Recap | BA's C-USA Weekend Preview l Fox Sports Net Schedule 
SERIES HISTORY
? This weekend's series will be the Conference USA opener for both squads ... The two teams have met on the diamond 26 times heading into today's game with East Carolina holding a 19-7 advantage ... Since 2006, when UCF joined the league, the Pirates own a 15-5 record and have won six-straight weekend series ... Back on May 21, 2009 the two teams met during the opening round of the C-USA Championships in Hattiesburg, Miss. with the Pirates claiming a 6-3 victory.
WEEKEND PROBABLE STARTERS / SERIES RESULTS
Friday: UCF 2, ECU 1 (Final)
Saturday: UCF 10, ECU 6 (Final)
Sunday: RHP Jharel Cotton (4-0, 2.22 ERA) vs. LHP Eric Skoglund (3-0, 1.57 ERA)
THINGS TO KNOW
? Heading into this weekend's action, a pair of Pirates are riding hit streaks of seven or more games ... Sophomore Drew Reynolds has recorded at least one hit in nine-straight contests where he is batting .471 (16-for-34) with six multi-hit games and six RBI ... Junior John Wooten is riding a seven-game hit streak where he is batting .355 (11-for-35) with three multi-hit games, two RBI and eight runs scored.
? The Pirates have won 10 of their last 15 games suffering losses to Troy (8-2), VCU (18-11), High Point (10-2) and UCF (2-1, 10-6).
? Heading into this weeks action, the Pirates are ranked No. 25 by Perfect Game and are receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) polls.
? Though we are just entering week six of the collegiate baseball season, the Pirates have the second-best RPI in Conference USA ranking 25th by WarrenNolan.com and 26th by BoydsWorld.com ... ECU trails only Rice, who is ranked No. 7 by both sites.
PIRATES TO WATCH
? Senior Zach Wright was named to the 2012 Johnny Bench Award Watch List for the third-straight year ... The Goldsboro, N.C. native is fourth catcher in ECU history to be named to the Bench Watch List following Jake Smith (2006 winner), Corey Kemp (2007-08 semifinalist) and Jared Avchen (2010) ... Wright finally belted his first home run of the season, sending a two-run blast to right center against VCU (Mar. 13) ... His round-tripper against the Rams was the 31st of his career, which ranks 10th among the NCAA Career Active leaders and is 13th on the Pirates all-time charts ... On the season he batting .239 (16-for-67) with four doubles, 12 RBI and nine runs scored ... He has registered at least one hit in eight of his last 10 games played with 10 RBI and seven runs scored ... His 81-game consecutive starting streak behind the plate was snapped at High Point earlier this week as he got the night off to rest up for the opening of C-USA action.
? Corey Thompson is currently rated as the seventh-best third baseman in Perfect Game's most recent College Power Rankings ... The senior from Apex, N.C. is batting .358 (24-for-67), which ranks ninth in C-USA ... He leads the team in hits (24), RBI (16) and total bases (36), while sharing the team lead in doubles (four) and home runs (3) and ranking second in runs scored (15) ... Last week he batted .353 (6-for-17) on the week with a home run, five RBI, five runs and recorded a hit in all four contests ... Against VCU his lone hit of the day came during ECU's five-run first inning where he singled up the middle scoring Jack Reinheimer and later would score on Reynolds ground out ... Thompson singled and scored in the third inning against Penn State in the series opener ... On Saturday he recorded a pair of hits and drove in three runs on his third home run of the season sending a shot off the top of the wall in left center with two outs to help the Pirates rally from a four-run deficit in the ninth frame ... He followed that outing with another two-hit game in the series finale driving in a run and scoring twice.
? Sophomore Tanner Merritt recorded his second win of the season on Saturday against Penn State where he worked two-thirds of an inning recording a pair of strikeouts and allowing one hit ... After entering the game with one out in the 10th, Merritt allowed a single to Jordan Steranka before fanning Steve Snyder (looking) and Taylor Skerpon (swinging) ... Earlier in the week he had a rough outing allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits against VCU without recording an out ... On the season he sports a 1.69 ERA in 10 appearances where he has allowed four runs (two earned) on 11 hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks in 10.2 innings ... Currently he ranks second on the team with three saves.
? Sophomore Drew Reynolds picked up his team-leading and C-USA best seventh save during midweek action against instate rival No. 11 N.C. State (Mar. 20) ... The right-hander allowed one run (unearned) on one hit in an inning of work ... Reynolds sports a 1.93 ERA with a 1-0 record and has struck out eight batters in 9.1 innings.
