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ECU baseball takes two of three from Southern Miss
By RYAN ROCKWELL, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE -- After a disappointing April in which the East Carolina baseball team lost nine of 17 games and fell to sixth place in the Conference USA standings, the Pirates took the final game from nationally ranked Southern Miss with a 7-3 victory on Sunday. ECU won two of the three games in the series.
The Pirates (28-20-1, 14-10) fell 6-3 to the top team in the conference on Friday, and then amazingly turned the series around with a three-run ninth inning on Saturday.
"I noticed the group really come together a little bit more (Saturday)," said Sunday's winning pitcher, Glenn Tucker of Saturday's miracle victory. "Any time you win a game like that it's an emotional boost. It gives you confidence down the road that you can win those."
Things are starting to fall in place for the Pirates, said skipper Randy Mazey.
"This is a good weekend," said Mazey. "We lose on the first game on Friday and this is the third time this year we've lost the first game and come back to win the last two. This isn't the most talented group but they've got a lot of heart and have gotten used to winning and in the seventh, eight and ninth innings, find a way to win games."
Sunday's game with the Golden Eagles required another comeback. This time, however, the Pirates took control and never looked back. Great long relief pitching from Glenn Tucker and four late-inning runs sealed the deal for ECU.
Southern Miss got three across in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead for the second day in a row. A leadoff homerun by Clint King to left-center got things started for the Golden Eagles. After King's leadoff blast, a Darryl Lawhorn throwing error from short to second put runners at the corners with no outs. The error also proved to be the end of the day for starting pitcher Kevin Rhodes. He allowed just one earned run in one complete inning of work.
"Kevin wasn't real sharp early and we couldn't afford to get too far down," said Mazey of Rhodes' early exit. "Kevin just wasn't as sharp as he was Wednesday up at N.C. State. He threw well up there and he just wasn't the same guy when he threw today. Tucker hadn't thrown all weekend and we had plenty of innings down in the bullpen so we didn't have to stretch Kevin out at all."
In came Tucker to pitch to Carlos Velasquez with no outs. Velasquez sent a fly ball to left to score Jarrett Hoffpauir. Tucker also gave up an RBI double to Matt Shepherd.
From that point on, Tucker was outstanding, pitching eight complete innings, striking out seven and giving up no earned runs on three hits.
"That's the best offensive team in the league now and Tucker has been in a little loll here lately, so it was encouraging to see him throw as well as he did," said Mazey.
ECU tightened things up in their half of the second, scoring two runs. Lawhorn made up for an error in the field with a leadoff double to left-center. Three batters later and with one out, Mark Minicozzi brought Lawhorn around with a double of his own. Kevin O'Sullivan plated the Pirates' second run with a sac fly to center.
Minicozzi got his seventh homer of the year in the fourth, knocking a solo shot to left-center to tie things at three. Minicozzi homered in game two, as well.
"We're starting to come around," said Minicozzi of the burgeoning offense. "Seeing guys come up with clutch hits last night really boosted everyone's confidence. After losing games in the last inning, to finally win one gives us a great boost."
ECU took its first lead in the sixth. Lawhorn belted another leadoff double to left-center and scored on an O'Sullivan single to left with two outs.
In the seventh, the Pirates blew the game open, facing three Southern Miss relievers. Leadoff man Jamie Paige led off the inning with a bloop single to left and Ryan Jones found a hole in the infield to put two runners aboard with no outs.
With the bases loaded and one out, Jake Smith grounded the ball to short and reached on an error to score Paige. The next batter, Adam Witter, sent a two-run single to right, putting the Pirates up 7-3.
Tucker remained strong in the late innings, retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.
"I hadn't pitched since Wednesday so I had a little rest and I worked hard and tried to get ahead (in the count) and get some outs," said Tucker, a senior middle reliever. "I haven't gone that long since I've been here but it's nice to go that far."
With two big wins over Baseball America's No. 19 team in the nation, ECU is hoping a late-season surge could turn the season around.
"I think our hitting is catching up to our pitching," said Mazey. "Now if we can get our pitching back and healthy, the complete team is almost together. We can't afford to look back. We just need to take it one game at a time and hopefully have a good weekend next weekend against UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) and make a strong run here in the last eight or nine games."
The Pirates are at home again this weekend for a three-game set with UAB. The series starts Friday at 7 p.m. in Harrington Field.
Southern Miss 030 000 000 -- 3 4 2
East Carolina 020 101 30x -- 7 8 2
WP: Glenn Tucker (4-2). LP: Stephen Castleman (5-2).
USM -- Matt Shepherd 1-3 (2B, RBI), Clint King 1-4 (HR), Griff Israel 2-3; ECU -- Jamie Paige 1-5, Ryan Jones 1-3, Darryl Lawhorn (two 2B), Adam Witter 1-2 (2RBI), Mark Minicozzi 2-4 (HR, 2B, 2RBI), Kevin O'Sullivan 1-3 (2RBI).
The Pirates (28-20-1, 14-10) fell 6-3 to the top team in the conference on Friday, and then amazingly turned the series around with a three-run ninth inning on Saturday.
"I noticed the group really come together a little bit more (Saturday)," said Sunday's winning pitcher, Glenn Tucker of Saturday's miracle victory. "Any time you win a game like that it's an emotional boost. It gives you confidence down the road that you can win those."
Things are starting to fall in place for the Pirates, said skipper Randy Mazey.
"This is a good weekend," said Mazey. "We lose on the first game on Friday and this is the third time this year we've lost the first game and come back to win the last two. This isn't the most talented group but they've got a lot of heart and have gotten used to winning and in the seventh, eight and ninth innings, find a way to win games."
Sunday's game with the Golden Eagles required another comeback. This time, however, the Pirates took control and never looked back. Great long relief pitching from Glenn Tucker and four late-inning runs sealed the deal for ECU.
Southern Miss got three across in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead for the second day in a row. A leadoff homerun by Clint King to left-center got things started for the Golden Eagles. After King's leadoff blast, a Darryl Lawhorn throwing error from short to second put runners at the corners with no outs. The error also proved to be the end of the day for starting pitcher Kevin Rhodes. He allowed just one earned run in one complete inning of work.
"Kevin wasn't real sharp early and we couldn't afford to get too far down," said Mazey of Rhodes' early exit. "Kevin just wasn't as sharp as he was Wednesday up at N.C. State. He threw well up there and he just wasn't the same guy when he threw today. Tucker hadn't thrown all weekend and we had plenty of innings down in the bullpen so we didn't have to stretch Kevin out at all."
In came Tucker to pitch to Carlos Velasquez with no outs. Velasquez sent a fly ball to left to score Jarrett Hoffpauir. Tucker also gave up an RBI double to Matt Shepherd.
From that point on, Tucker was outstanding, pitching eight complete innings, striking out seven and giving up no earned runs on three hits.
"That's the best offensive team in the league now and Tucker has been in a little loll here lately, so it was encouraging to see him throw as well as he did," said Mazey.
ECU tightened things up in their half of the second, scoring two runs. Lawhorn made up for an error in the field with a leadoff double to left-center. Three batters later and with one out, Mark Minicozzi brought Lawhorn around with a double of his own. Kevin O'Sullivan plated the Pirates' second run with a sac fly to center.
Minicozzi got his seventh homer of the year in the fourth, knocking a solo shot to left-center to tie things at three. Minicozzi homered in game two, as well.
"We're starting to come around," said Minicozzi of the burgeoning offense. "Seeing guys come up with clutch hits last night really boosted everyone's confidence. After losing games in the last inning, to finally win one gives us a great boost."
ECU took its first lead in the sixth. Lawhorn belted another leadoff double to left-center and scored on an O'Sullivan single to left with two outs.
In the seventh, the Pirates blew the game open, facing three Southern Miss relievers. Leadoff man Jamie Paige led off the inning with a bloop single to left and Ryan Jones found a hole in the infield to put two runners aboard with no outs.
With the bases loaded and one out, Jake Smith grounded the ball to short and reached on an error to score Paige. The next batter, Adam Witter, sent a two-run single to right, putting the Pirates up 7-3.
Tucker remained strong in the late innings, retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.
"I hadn't pitched since Wednesday so I had a little rest and I worked hard and tried to get ahead (in the count) and get some outs," said Tucker, a senior middle reliever. "I haven't gone that long since I've been here but it's nice to go that far."
With two big wins over Baseball America's No. 19 team in the nation, ECU is hoping a late-season surge could turn the season around.
"I think our hitting is catching up to our pitching," said Mazey. "Now if we can get our pitching back and healthy, the complete team is almost together. We can't afford to look back. We just need to take it one game at a time and hopefully have a good weekend next weekend against UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) and make a strong run here in the last eight or nine games."
The Pirates are at home again this weekend for a three-game set with UAB. The series starts Friday at 7 p.m. in Harrington Field.
Southern Miss 030 000 000 -- 3 4 2
East Carolina 020 101 30x -- 7 8 2
WP: Glenn Tucker (4-2). LP: Stephen Castleman (5-2).
USM -- Matt Shepherd 1-3 (2B, RBI), Clint King 1-4 (HR), Griff Israel 2-3; ECU -- Jamie Paige 1-5, Ryan Jones 1-3, Darryl Lawhorn (two 2B), Adam Witter 1-2 (2RBI), Mark Minicozzi 2-4 (HR, 2B, 2RBI), Kevin O'Sullivan 1-3 (2RBI).
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