Rice University
24-8, 8-3
East Carolina
26-8, 9-2
Owls Fall At East Carolina, 4-1
4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 11, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- With runs and offensive opportunities at a premium for both teams, East Carolina edged the Rice Owls 4-1 in the second of a three-game Conference USA baseball series Saturday afternoon on the road in Greenville, NC.
Rice freshman starting pitcher Taylor Wall tied his single-game career-bests for strikeouts (9) and innings pitched (7.0) and held a heavy-hitting ECU team to just two earned runs. Wall did not walk any Pirate batters in his team-leading eighth start of the season, but was the pitcher of record as the Owls saw their win-streak come to an end at nine games.
East Carolina senior right-hander Seth Maness pitched a complete-game three-hitter to remain undefeated at 4-0. Maness allowed just one unearned run while striking out eight with one base-on-balls.
The Owls opportunistically turned an East Carolina fielding error into a run in the top of the second inning. Jimmy Comerota reached on an error and advanced to second on a walk to Ryan Lewis. Steven Sultzbaugh stroked a two-out single into right-center to score Comerota for a 1-0 lead. Sultzbaugh finieshed the day with two of the Blue & Gray's three hits.
A Rice fielding error opened the door for a two-run Pirate fourth. An RBI double by Drew Schreiber and RBI single by Dustin Harrington drove in a pair of unearned runs and a 2-1 ECU lead.
That would be all the room Maness would need, but ECU added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on three-consecutive singles. In the eighth Pirate left fielder Stephen Batts hit a solo homerun to left field for his team-leading ninth round-tripper of the year.
Rice fell to 24-8 overall and 8-3 in conference action. The Pirates improved to 26-8 on the season and a league-leading 9-2 in C-USA. The series concludes on Sunday (Apr. 12). First pitch is set for 11 am. The game will be broadcast live on the radio in the Houston area on KTRU (91.7 FM).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MANESS, Seth (4-0)
L: Wall, Taylor (4-3)
Batting:
RBI: Sultzbaugh, Steven 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Comerota, Jimmy 1
Batting:
2B: SCHIEBER, Drew 1
HR: BATTS, Stephen 1
RBI: WHITEHEAD, Trent 1 ; BATTS, Stephen 1 ; SCHIEBER, Drew 1 ; HARRINGTON, Dustin 1
SH: HENDERSON, Brandon 1 ; HARRINGTON, Dustin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BATTS, Stephen 1 ; HENDERSON, Brandon 1 ; HARRIS, Devin 1 ; HARRINGTON, Dustin 1
HBP: WHITEHEAD, Trent 1 ; ROLLER, Kyle 1 ; AVCHEN, Jared 1
