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Pirates hold off Blazers
By JOHN SWARTZ, Sports Correspondent
GREENVILLE -- East Carolina's Ryan Norwood had a home run and five runs batted in during the second game on Sunday as the Pirates took two of three in the series against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
"They call us the two-out-of-three Pirates on the weekend," said ECU head coach Randy Mazey.
After Sunday's first game, the continuation of Saturday's game that was postponed because of weather condition's, the afternoon's Senior Day activities commenced. Friends and family escorted the senior players and a manager onto the field. Two faithful members of the "Jungle" escorted Senior Luke Cherry.
Nine ECU players were honored yesterday. They were Will Brinson, Luke Cherry, Kevin O'Sullivan, Davey Penny, Ben Sanderson, Neal Sears, Jason Tourangeau, Glen Tucker and Taylor Williams.
"Those guys have had some kind of career," Mazey said of the nine departing seniors. "They've had a career that most kids at most schools don't have. That's a tribute to them, that's stuff that they're going to remember (for) the rest of their lives."
The Pirates and the Blazers each took a game on Sunday. The first game was the continuation of the suspended game from Saturday night. The Pirates started Sunday in a 10-4 hole, and the players knew they had an uphill battle in front of them for the remaining four innings.
Darryl Lawhorn started off the Pirate attack with a double in the continuation of Saturday's game. Lawhorn then came around to score on a sacrifice fly.
The Pirates had the bases loaded when Blazer pitcher Griffin Zarbough walked Sanderson. But one run was all the damage the Pirates amassed in the inning as they stranded all three runners.
UAB got that run back and more two innings later. With the bases loaded, Drew Connell hit a two-run double. The Pirates made one more small rally in the ninth, but only managed three runs to make the final score 12-8.
"After you lose the first game of a double-header, (you) immediately get the momentum when the game ends," Mazey said. "We were down by five runs, the game ends and the score goes right back to zero-zero. So, whoever loses the first game of a double-header always has momentum going into the second game. Unfortunately, their first four hitter of the game scored, so we had to play catch up for the whole game."
When the second game started the Blazers were on the board early. In the first Kyle Leon hit an RBI single to score Mitch Jones. Daniel Hill later hit a three-run home run to put the Pirates in a deep hole early.
Sears, a senior, came into the game to stop the bleeding, and he did just that. He allowed only two runs in the offensive shootout.
"My last home game speaks for itself -- a win," Sears said. "That's what we're out here working for. I really didn't expect myself to come in that early, but you've got to do what your called upon to do."
The Pirates got a run back in its half of the inning. Ryan Norwood hit an RBI double off the center field wall to score Jamie Paige.
In the second, Hill thwarted the Pirates again with a two-run single to increase UAB's lead. In the Pirate half of the inning, with the bases loaded, Norwood hit a two-run single to cut a little deeper in the Blazer lead. During the play, Ryan Jones was caught in a run-down between second and third and was tagged out to end the inning.
The defenses settled down for the next couple of innings and the teams posted some zeros on the board. But ECU battled back with four runs to take the lead in the fourth.
John Poppert scored on and infield hit by Paige, then Sanderson scored on a fielder's choice by Jones. With one on and after one swing, the Pirates got its first lead of the game when Norwood hit his 13th home run of the year.
"The guy hung a slider, and I saw it well and I got the good part of the bat on it," said Norwood, who went 4-for-5 in the second game. "In the game before I felt like I was taking some good swings, a guy caught the ball at the wall. Baseball is just a game like that."
The Pirates maintained its lead for one inning, but Mitch Jones hit a single that scored Josh Miljavac to tie the game at seven.
A bases loaded walk scored Jones. One more walk later and a Poppert double gave the Pirates a four run lead at 11-7.
The Blazers got two back in the eighth inning when Goneke hit a two-run single; he then got caught in the game's second run-down for the final out of the inning.
The Pirates got another run to work with when O'Sullivan hit a single through the infield that scored Witter in the eighth.
The Pirates were three outs away from splitting the day, but winning the series. After allowing only one hit, the Pirates got those three outs and secured the series victory.
ECU has one more regular season series this year. They will be traveling to New Orleans to play Tulane next weekend, and then it's the conference tournament, which is also being played at Tulane.
Game One
UAB 002 422 020 - 12 14 2
ECU 001 031 003 - 8 12 1
WP - Scott Gibson (6-2); LP - Will Brinson (3-3); S - Griffin Zarbough.
A - Mitch Jones 1-4; Drew Goneke 1-3; Kyle Leon 2-3 (2 RBI); Daniel Hill 1-4; Drew Connell 2-4 (2 RBI); Matt Womble 2-5; Eugene Rodriquez 2-5 (3 RBI); Josh Miljavac 1-5 (RBI); Sam Clarke 2-5 (RBI); E - Jamie Paige 2-5 (2 RBI); Ryan Jones 1-5 (RBI); Darryl Lawhorn 2-5 (2 RBI); Jake Smith 1-4; Mark Minicozzi 1-3 (RBI); Kevin O'Sullivan 2-3; Luke Cherry 1-1; Ben Sanderson 1-2; Taylor Williams 1-1.
Game Two
UAB 420 001 020 - 9 11 2
ECU 120 404 01x - 12 13 0
WP - Greg Bunn (4-5); LP - Jeff Brown (3-3)
A - Mitch Jones 3-5 (RBI); Drew Goneke 1-3 (2 RBI); Kyle Leon 1-4 (RBI); Daniel Hill 3-5 (5 RBI); Eugene Rodriqez 2-4; Sam Clark 1-2; E - Jamie Paige 2-5 (RBI); Ryan Norwood 4-5 (HR, 5 RBI); Mark Minicozzi 1-4 (RBI); Adam Witter 1-4 (RBI); John Poppert 3-4 (2 RBI); Kevin O'Sullivan 2-03 (RBI).
"They call us the two-out-of-three Pirates on the weekend," said ECU head coach Randy Mazey.
After Sunday's first game, the continuation of Saturday's game that was postponed because of weather condition's, the afternoon's Senior Day activities commenced. Friends and family escorted the senior players and a manager onto the field. Two faithful members of the "Jungle" escorted Senior Luke Cherry.
Nine ECU players were honored yesterday. They were Will Brinson, Luke Cherry, Kevin O'Sullivan, Davey Penny, Ben Sanderson, Neal Sears, Jason Tourangeau, Glen Tucker and Taylor Williams.
"Those guys have had some kind of career," Mazey said of the nine departing seniors. "They've had a career that most kids at most schools don't have. That's a tribute to them, that's stuff that they're going to remember (for) the rest of their lives."
The Pirates and the Blazers each took a game on Sunday. The first game was the continuation of the suspended game from Saturday night. The Pirates started Sunday in a 10-4 hole, and the players knew they had an uphill battle in front of them for the remaining four innings.
Darryl Lawhorn started off the Pirate attack with a double in the continuation of Saturday's game. Lawhorn then came around to score on a sacrifice fly.
The Pirates had the bases loaded when Blazer pitcher Griffin Zarbough walked Sanderson. But one run was all the damage the Pirates amassed in the inning as they stranded all three runners.
UAB got that run back and more two innings later. With the bases loaded, Drew Connell hit a two-run double. The Pirates made one more small rally in the ninth, but only managed three runs to make the final score 12-8.
"After you lose the first game of a double-header, (you) immediately get the momentum when the game ends," Mazey said. "We were down by five runs, the game ends and the score goes right back to zero-zero. So, whoever loses the first game of a double-header always has momentum going into the second game. Unfortunately, their first four hitter of the game scored, so we had to play catch up for the whole game."
When the second game started the Blazers were on the board early. In the first Kyle Leon hit an RBI single to score Mitch Jones. Daniel Hill later hit a three-run home run to put the Pirates in a deep hole early.
Sears, a senior, came into the game to stop the bleeding, and he did just that. He allowed only two runs in the offensive shootout.
"My last home game speaks for itself -- a win," Sears said. "That's what we're out here working for. I really didn't expect myself to come in that early, but you've got to do what your called upon to do."
The Pirates got a run back in its half of the inning. Ryan Norwood hit an RBI double off the center field wall to score Jamie Paige.
In the second, Hill thwarted the Pirates again with a two-run single to increase UAB's lead. In the Pirate half of the inning, with the bases loaded, Norwood hit a two-run single to cut a little deeper in the Blazer lead. During the play, Ryan Jones was caught in a run-down between second and third and was tagged out to end the inning.
The defenses settled down for the next couple of innings and the teams posted some zeros on the board. But ECU battled back with four runs to take the lead in the fourth.
John Poppert scored on and infield hit by Paige, then Sanderson scored on a fielder's choice by Jones. With one on and after one swing, the Pirates got its first lead of the game when Norwood hit his 13th home run of the year.
"The guy hung a slider, and I saw it well and I got the good part of the bat on it," said Norwood, who went 4-for-5 in the second game. "In the game before I felt like I was taking some good swings, a guy caught the ball at the wall. Baseball is just a game like that."
The Pirates maintained its lead for one inning, but Mitch Jones hit a single that scored Josh Miljavac to tie the game at seven.
A bases loaded walk scored Jones. One more walk later and a Poppert double gave the Pirates a four run lead at 11-7.
The Blazers got two back in the eighth inning when Goneke hit a two-run single; he then got caught in the game's second run-down for the final out of the inning.
The Pirates got another run to work with when O'Sullivan hit a single through the infield that scored Witter in the eighth.
The Pirates were three outs away from splitting the day, but winning the series. After allowing only one hit, the Pirates got those three outs and secured the series victory.
ECU has one more regular season series this year. They will be traveling to New Orleans to play Tulane next weekend, and then it's the conference tournament, which is also being played at Tulane.
Game One
UAB 002 422 020 - 12 14 2
ECU 001 031 003 - 8 12 1
WP - Scott Gibson (6-2); LP - Will Brinson (3-3); S - Griffin Zarbough.
A - Mitch Jones 1-4; Drew Goneke 1-3; Kyle Leon 2-3 (2 RBI); Daniel Hill 1-4; Drew Connell 2-4 (2 RBI); Matt Womble 2-5; Eugene Rodriquez 2-5 (3 RBI); Josh Miljavac 1-5 (RBI); Sam Clarke 2-5 (RBI); E - Jamie Paige 2-5 (2 RBI); Ryan Jones 1-5 (RBI); Darryl Lawhorn 2-5 (2 RBI); Jake Smith 1-4; Mark Minicozzi 1-3 (RBI); Kevin O'Sullivan 2-3; Luke Cherry 1-1; Ben Sanderson 1-2; Taylor Williams 1-1.
Game Two
UAB 420 001 020 - 9 11 2
ECU 120 404 01x - 12 13 0
WP - Greg Bunn (4-5); LP - Jeff Brown (3-3)
A - Mitch Jones 3-5 (RBI); Drew Goneke 1-3 (2 RBI); Kyle Leon 1-4 (RBI); Daniel Hill 3-5 (5 RBI); Eugene Rodriqez 2-4; Sam Clark 1-2; E - Jamie Paige 2-5 (RBI); Ryan Norwood 4-5 (HR, 5 RBI); Mark Minicozzi 1-4 (RBI); Adam Witter 1-4 (RBI); John Poppert 3-4 (2 RBI); Kevin O'Sullivan 2-03 (RBI).
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