ECU Welcomes UAB For Three
April 05, 2012 | Softball
April 5, 2012
 at  |
| East Carolina Games 37-38: UAB Friday, April 6 | 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. ET Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium) |
 Game 1 Watch Live | Game 2 Watch Live |  Game 1 Gametracker | Game 2 Gametracker |  Live Chat | Mobile Live Chat |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Following a six-contest road trip during which the team went 2-4, East Carolina (15-21, 3-6 C-USA) returns home this weekend for a three-game series against Conference USA's second-place team, UAB (21-13, 7-2 C-USA). Due to Easter on Sunday, the teams will play a 5:00 p.m. doubleheader Friday and finish the set Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. contest.
The first 200 fans in attendance for Friday's doubleheader will obtain a Vidant Health cinch bag. Following the on-field action Friday and Saturday, fans will be able to receive autographs from the Pirate players and coaching staff.
On Wednesday at N.C. State, East Carolina took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Wolfpack scored the game's final nine runs to come away with a 9-3 victory. Following the shaky opening frame, NCSU pitcher Emily Weiman allowed just three hits over the remaining six innings. The Pirates got a two-run home run from sophomore Jordan Lewis in the first inning, but N.C. State used two hits, two runs scored and two driven in from Caitlin Dent to help in the win. The second game of Wednesday's originally scheduled doubleheader was canceled due to heavy rain in the area.
The Pirates Against The Blazers
East Carolina holds an 18-16 advantage in the all-time series that began in 2002 when the Pirates joined Conference USA. The Blazers won six of the first seven meetings before the Pirates took seven of the next eight in 2004 and 2005. Most recently, ECU has claimed seven of the last 10 contests. The road team has won the last three series as the Pirates swept the Blazers in Birmingham in 2009, UAB responded during the 2010 campaign in Greenville with two wins, and East Carolina returned the favor with a pair of victories a year ago in Birmingham.
Birmingham, Ala.
East Carolina junior Suzanne Riggs drove in a career-high five runs to lift East Carolina to a 6-2 victory over UAB Sunday afternoon. Riggs hit a three-run home run in the first inning to back senior Toni Paisley's 11-strikeout performance. Last season, the teams split the Saturday doubleheader with ECU taking the opener 3-2 in 11 innings before falling 2-0 in the second contest. Sunday, the Pirates won the series with a 6-2 victory. In the opener, Jasmine Robbins registered a career-high three hits and drove in the game-winning run with a double to left as Toni Paisley earned the 109th victory of her career to set the C-USA record. UAB used a two-run home run by Kristen McGrath in the bottom of the sixth to gain the win in the second contest. During the Sunday finale, Suzanne Riggs drove in a personal-best five runs, three with a home run in the first inning, and Paisley fanned 11 in the triumph.
In the Blazers' last visit to Greenville, in 2010, the teams were tied 0-0 in the opener until the top of the 11th, when Sallie Van Kirk hit a two-out triple to right center to drive in the game's only runs as UAB won 2-0. In the second contest, Mandy Lowman and Kate Armstrong each drove in two runs and hit a home run to power the offense to a 5-0 victory. ECU avoided the sweep Sunday with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kaui Tom had an RBI single and Sissy Jimenez plated Tom with a double to right center for a 2-0 triumph.
A Bump In The Road
East Carolina has opened the Conference USA season being swept at Tulsa and UCF with three wins at home against UTEP in between. The Pirates had not been swept twice in the same league season since 2008, falling three times at Houston and twice to Marshall (one contest canceled due to rain). ECU had not lost all three games of a series twice in the same campaign since 2004 (Southern Miss, Louisville and Houston). The Pirates' 3-6 mark through nine league games is its worst since a 2-7 ledger in 2006.
Home Is Where The Wins Are
During East Carolina's recently completed six-game road trip, the team posted a 2-4 record. Overall this season, the squad has gone 7-18 in road or neutral site games. Inside the ECU Softball Stadium, however, the Pirates are 8-3, including a 3-0 mark in Conference USA action. In fact, going back to last year's C-USA Tournament, ECU has won six-straight matchups against league foes.
Run Producers On Display
This weekend's series with UAB features three of the top nine run producers during C-USA games. The Blazers' Mandy Lowman stands sixth in league contests with 11 runs batted in while ECU senior Riggs is tied for seventh with 10 RBI and Lewis is just behind in ninth with nine runs delivered.
Jelnick Powering The Offense
Last week, East Carolina's offense scored 22 times. The main run producer was not a middle-of-the-order bat, but sophomore leadoff hitter Jill Jelnick. She batted .438 while leading the Pirates with seven hits, five runs batted in, four scored, a .500 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage. Jelnick continued her impressive run Wednesday at N.C. State, collecting one of the Pirates' five hits.
This season, the Aliso Viejo, Calif., native stands 10th in Conference USA in on-base percentage (.431), 15th in batting average (.340) and is tied for fourth in walks (16).
In league contests, she is tied for sixth with a .400 batting average while standing second in OBP (.571) and walks (10) and tied for fifth in runs scored (10).
The Streak Is At 10 And Counting
Lewis extended her hitting streak to a career-high 10 games Wednesday at N.C. State with two-run home run to left center in the first inning. The run is also the longest by a Pirate this season. In addition to the hitting streak, Lewis is tied with Jelnick for the 2012 Pirate lead in consecutive games reaching base at a personal-best 16.
Since the start of the 2005 campaign, only four Pirates have compiled hitting streaks of 10 games or longer. Friday, Lewis will be looking to match and then surpass Paige Baggett (2006) and Krista Jessup (2005), who own the longest runs at 11 games each.
Hitting Streak Boosts The Numbers
Lewis' 10-game hitting streak has helped raise her overall batting average from .266 to a team third-best .300. In Conference USA contests, the Fremont, Calif., product is ranked 10th in the league with a .379 average, 11th with 11 hits and ninth with nine runs batted in. She is also tied for third with three doubles. In all games, Lewis is tied for ninth with 10 stolen bases.
Finding Pitcher No. 3
After not throwing an inning in college since tossing one-and-two-thirds against Virginia on Feb. 8, 2009, during the first weekend of her ECU career, senior Priscilla Velasquez returned to the circle last week. She has totaled three innings pitched this year, throwing in the second game March 28 at UNC Wilmington, Sunday at UCF in the series finale and Wednesday at N.C. State.
She has surrendered only three hits, has not walked a batter and tallied the first two strikeouts of her career, both looking. Sunday against the Knights, she came in with the bases loaded and two outs and got Vanessa Perez to fly out to center field to strand all three runners.
Bringing Them Home
As well as having success in the circle, Velasquez was productive last week at the plate. She tied for the team lead with five runs batted in during the five games and registered a Pirate third-best five hits. She has recorded one or more RBI in six of the last eight contests. The La Quinta, Calif., native stands third on the team during Conference USA games with six RBI.
The Start Of Something Good
Junior Kai Clark has recorded three hits in a game twice this season, both in the last two weeks. She tallied a career-high three versus UTEP on March 24 and followed with another three-hit game in the team's next Conference USA series, at UCF. Sunday against the Knights, Clark manufactured the Pirates' first run of the contest, reaching on a two-out single, advancing to second and then third on passed balls before scoring on a wild pitch.
Wednesday at N.C. State, she kept the hot streak going with a two-for-three performance. She was the only Pirate to record more than one hit in the contest. Following the March 17 doubleheader at Tulsa, the Kapolei, Hawai'i, native has lifted her batting average from .162 to .270, the fifth-highest mark on the team. In the last nine games, she is hitting a squad second-best .423.
