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Pirates pull out win
RYAN ROCKWELL, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE -- The East Carolina baseball team remains near the top of Conference USA at the midway point of the conference schedule, defeating the Memphis Tigers 3-2 on Sunday. The Pirates are one game in back of Southern Miss (11-4) for first place.
ECU (23-12-1, 10-5) has been criticized lately by head coach Randy Mazey for dropping games to teams with losing records. After dropping game two, 8-1, to the Tigers on Saturday night, ECU was in danger of losing their first conference series of the season. The Pirates have now won all five C-USA series' two games to one.
However, true to form, ECU found a way to win, despite playing less than stellar baseball to win its seventh consecutive series. The Pirates have not lost a series since Feb. 23, when they lost two games out of three at Central Florida.
"Winning two out of three is successful but we've played the three lowest teams in the league on our home field and dropped a game to each one of them, so in that regard we've not been successful," said Mazey. "We've got to play better than that. We can't continue to keep doing this. These guys always find a way to win, but we're going to have to play better in the second half."
The Pirates have the lowest ERA in C-USA, allowing 3.04 runs per game before Sunday. In the rubber game against Memphis, starter Will Brinson (3-1) allowed two runs in the third on an RBI single by Ryan Martin. Brinson teamed with closer Greg Bunn to tame the Tigers (12-23, 4-11) the rest of the way.
Brinson, a senior righty, pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and two walks, while striking out five.
"We won 3-2 and they scored both runs on a two-run single, so Will pitched good enough to win," said Mazey. "If we have a better offensive team, maybe Will wins that game seven or eight to two. But, because we're not swinging the bats, we can't afford to keep giving up one run at a time, so we had to go to Bunn a lot sooner."
Bunn was anything but typical in his 3 1/3 innings of relief. The sophomore gave up just one hit and struck out eight, yet walked five batters. Bunn got out of jams in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings for his sixth save of the year.
"He's got great stuff, overpowering stuff, but he doesn't have great command of it," said Mazey of his closer. "So he's going to pitch in jams and pitch out of jams. You've got to live with Bunn doing that."
The purple and gold trailed 2-0 with two outs in the bottom half of the fourth when clean-up batter Ryan Norwood blasted the first pitch into the trees of leftfield. Norwood, a sophomore, leads the Pirates in batting average, RBIs (27), hits (42) and is second in homers with nine.
Memphis starter Jarrett Grube gave up two more in the fifth and surrendered the lead. Catcher John Poppert led off the fifth with a single into left and then advanced to second on a throwing error by the Tiger catcher, Kurt Welch. Then, with one out, Ben Sanderson singled into left.
With two outs, Poppert and Sanderson came around to score as Kevin O'Sullivan doubled into right-center, giving ECU a 3-2 advantage.
The Pirates face in-state competition the rest of the week, playing at Campbell on Tuesday and then are at home for North Carolina on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Memphis 002 000 000 - 2 6 1
ECU 000 120 00 - 3 5 2
WP-Will Brinson (3-1). LP-Jarrett Grube (1-4). S-Greg Bunn (6).
M-Chad House 2-5, Ryan Martin 1-4 (2 RBI), Kevin House 1-3, Kyle Scott 1-3, Jordan Hart 1-3.
ECU-Kevin O'Sullivan 1-4 (2B, RBI), Ryan Norwood 1-4 (HR), Adam Witter 1-3, John Poppert 1-3, Ben Sanderson 1-2 (RBI).
GREENVILLE -- The East Carolina baseball team remains near the top of Conference USA at the midway point of the conference schedule, defeating the Memphis Tigers 3-2 on Sunday. The Pirates are one game in back of Southern Miss (11-4) for first place.
ECU (23-12-1, 10-5) has been criticized lately by head coach Randy Mazey for dropping games to teams with losing records. After dropping game two, 8-1, to the Tigers on Saturday night, ECU was in danger of losing their first conference series of the season. The Pirates have now won all five C-USA series' two games to one.
However, true to form, ECU found a way to win, despite playing less than stellar baseball to win its seventh consecutive series. The Pirates have not lost a series since Feb. 23, when they lost two games out of three at Central Florida.
"Winning two out of three is successful but we've played the three lowest teams in the league on our home field and dropped a game to each one of them, so in that regard we've not been successful," said Mazey. "We've got to play better than that. We can't continue to keep doing this. These guys always find a way to win, but we're going to have to play better in the second half."
The Pirates have the lowest ERA in C-USA, allowing 3.04 runs per game before Sunday. In the rubber game against Memphis, starter Will Brinson (3-1) allowed two runs in the third on an RBI single by Ryan Martin. Brinson teamed with closer Greg Bunn to tame the Tigers (12-23, 4-11) the rest of the way.
Brinson, a senior righty, pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and two walks, while striking out five.
"We won 3-2 and they scored both runs on a two-run single, so Will pitched good enough to win," said Mazey. "If we have a better offensive team, maybe Will wins that game seven or eight to two. But, because we're not swinging the bats, we can't afford to keep giving up one run at a time, so we had to go to Bunn a lot sooner."
Bunn was anything but typical in his 3 1/3 innings of relief. The sophomore gave up just one hit and struck out eight, yet walked five batters. Bunn got out of jams in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings for his sixth save of the year.
"He's got great stuff, overpowering stuff, but he doesn't have great command of it," said Mazey of his closer. "So he's going to pitch in jams and pitch out of jams. You've got to live with Bunn doing that."
The purple and gold trailed 2-0 with two outs in the bottom half of the fourth when clean-up batter Ryan Norwood blasted the first pitch into the trees of leftfield. Norwood, a sophomore, leads the Pirates in batting average, RBIs (27), hits (42) and is second in homers with nine.
Memphis starter Jarrett Grube gave up two more in the fifth and surrendered the lead. Catcher John Poppert led off the fifth with a single into left and then advanced to second on a throwing error by the Tiger catcher, Kurt Welch. Then, with one out, Ben Sanderson singled into left.
With two outs, Poppert and Sanderson came around to score as Kevin O'Sullivan doubled into right-center, giving ECU a 3-2 advantage.
The Pirates face in-state competition the rest of the week, playing at Campbell on Tuesday and then are at home for North Carolina on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Memphis 002 000 000 - 2 6 1
ECU 000 120 00 - 3 5 2
WP-Will Brinson (3-1). LP-Jarrett Grube (1-4). S-Greg Bunn (6).
M-Chad House 2-5, Ryan Martin 1-4 (2 RBI), Kevin House 1-3, Kyle Scott 1-3, Jordan Hart 1-3.
ECU-Kevin O'Sullivan 1-4 (2B, RBI), Ryan Norwood 1-4 (HR), Adam Witter 1-3, John Poppert 1-3, Ben Sanderson 1-2 (RBI).
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