TicketsBearcats Fall Short At ECU, 13-7
Parker, Haske homer in defeat
Contact: Shawn Sell
4/29/2005
Logan Parker doubled and homered Friday at East Carolina. |
GREENVILLE, N.C.---East Carolina hit four home runs and used a seven-run third inning to score a 13-7 win over Cincinnati in the opening game of a Conference USA baseball series on Friday night.
UC outhit the Pirates by a 14-11 count, but 13 ECU runs in the first three innings gave the Pirates all the runs they would need. The Pirates, who entered the night holding the eighth and final spot in the race for a C-USA Tournament berth, improve to 10-9 in league play and 25-16 overall. The Bearcats, in 10th place in C-USA are 18-21, with a 6-12 league slate.
Logan Parker got the Bearcats off to a great start when he ripped his sixth homer of the season, a three-run blast in the top of the first inning. But a two-run homer by Mark Minicozzi and an RBI single by Jake Smith in the bottom of the frame put the Pirates ahead to stay.
Jon DeLuca led the Bearcats with three hits, while Parker added a double and two runs scored to his three-run blast. Mark Haske also homered for UC and Brian Szarmach and Pat LeMasters each contributed a pair of hits.
East Carolina got two hits each from Brian Cavanaugh, Minicozzi and Ryan Peisel among its 11 hits. ECU starter Ricky Brooks (5-3), who last week tossed the first nine-inning no-hitter in C-USA history, got the win, despite giving up the three first inning runs.
After taking a 4-3 lead in the first, East Carolina went up by three when Adam Witter drilled a two-run homer to center in the second off of Justin Minges. Things fell apart for the Bearcats in the third as 10 ECU hitters came to the plate in a seven-run inning. A rare fielding error by Mark Muscenti allowed the first run to score and was followed later in the frame by a two-run double by Cavanaugh. Peisel then brought the Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd of 3,070 into an uproar when he ripped a three-run homer to left.
After enduring the brunt of the third inning explosion in relief of Minges, Bryan Wood settled down and held the Pirates scoreless for the next two frames. He gave way to Mike Foley who turned in an outstanding performance, tossing three innings of two-hit shutout baseball.
The Bearcats made one final push to get back into the contest with a four-run outburst in the seventh inning. Haske led the frame off with his second homer of the year and Parker nearly followed suit as he banged a double off the center field wall. Following a walk to Szarmach and a wild pitch, DeLuca collected his team-best 30th RBI of the year with a single up the middle. LeMasters then tallied an RBI groundout with pinch-hitter Kevin Schrader adding a run-scoring single to round out the day?s scoring.
The two teams will contest game two on Saturday with first pitch set for 6 p.m. Tony Maynard will make the start on the mound for the Bearcats. East Carolina?s starting pitcher has not yet been announced.