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Mathews hurls Pirates past Stony Brook
By Denny O'Brien
©2004 Bonesville.net
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KINSTON — If pitching and
defense are the primary ingredients for making the College World Series, top
seed East Carolina made a major statement in its NCAA Regional opener.
Freshman right-hander Shane
Mathews proved steady in an 8-2 win over Stony Brook at historic Grainger
Stadium, backed by an air-tight defense. It was a game that was closely
contested until the eighth inning when the Pirates' pushed five runs across
the plate.
Despite the brief offensive
barrage, this was a night that belonged to the right arm of Mathews and the
gloves of short stop Billy Richardson and third baseman Mark Minicozzi.
"Shane went out there and made
the coaching staff look pretty smart by naming him as the first game
starter," Pirates coach Randy Mazey said. "We knew Shane was capable of
doing that — going out there and competing his butt off and keeping the ball
in the strike zone, and keeping the ball down in the zone.
"I don't think he threw a
fastball belt high all night long. He threw a lot of fastballs down on the
knees and got us ground balls when we needed them. ...Coz and Billy made
great plays all night long."
Mathews surrendered six hits
over eight innings and struck out seven to improve to 7-1 on the season. In
doing so, East Carolina upped its record to 49-11 and now faces rival UNC-Wilmington
in the winners' bracket game Sunday at 3 PM.
Stoney Brook (29-26), the
America East Tournament champions, now must fight its way out of the losers'
bracket, beginning with a showdown with SEC powerhouse Tennessee Sunday at
11 AM.
Mazey said the hard-fought
victory over the Seawolves and ace Jon Lewis could pay benefits down the
road.
"You want to be tested in that
first game, but you have to be able to pass it, too," Mazey said. "To play a
close game like that — a 3-1 game late — and to see a good arm like that, I
think really helps us going into the rest of the tournament.
"Had we come out and beat them
pretty badly tonight, I don't know how much that would have helped us going
into the next two days. That was a good test. We're going to face a lot of
guys that aren't as good as that guy we faced tonight. I thought we stood in
there and battled pretty well."
Lewis kept the Pirates off
balance for much of the evening, carrying a four-hitter into the eighth
inning. However, unlike Mathews, the Seawolves starter received little help
from a defense that committed six errors.
Ryan Norwood (2-5, 2 2B, RBI),
John Poppert (2-4, HR, 2 RBI), and Jamie Paige (2-4) paced the Pirates at
the plate.
"Anytime you get a guy who
will throw a breaking ball any count and throw it for strikes, it will keep
you off balance," Norwood said. "He was spotting his fastball pretty well,
throwing it in and out."
Stony Brook struck first when
left fielder Isidro Fortuna singled to the right side to plate Andrew Larsen
in the top of the third. Larsen reached base on his second hit of the night,
a single, and stole second before scoring on Fortuna's hit.
The Pirates answered quickly
in the bottom half of the inning when Poppert blasted a pitch over the left
field wall. It was Poppert's fifth dinger of the season and ECU's first hit
off Lewis.
The Pirates grabbed a 2-1 lead
later in the third when Norwood doubled home Paige with two outs. Paige
reached with a single following Poppert's homer and moved to second when
Lewis walked Richardson.
Paige and Norwood hooked up
again in the fifth to push the Pirates' lead to 3-1. Paige started the
inning with a single to the right side and moved around to third off a pair
of ground ball outs by Richardson and Ryan Jones. Norwood then reached on an
error by Seawolves first baseman Dave Mischo that plated Paige.
"We're on a road to Omaha,"
Mathews said. "I had to go out there and get a win, no matter how we did it.
I had a great defense behind me."
Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:39:01 AM
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