Pirates earn split behind
Joyner, Wright
From electronic and staff reports
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Junior southpaw Tyler
Joyner's sterling mound performance and a clutch two-run double by
senior catcher Zach Wright helped East Carolina claim a 3-1 victory over
Western Carolina Saturday afternoon in the rain-delayed Keith LeClair
Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
After dropping a decision
to Purdue earlier in the day, the win over the Catamounts gave the
Pirates (5-1) a shot of momentum going into a 2 p.m. matchup with
Maryland on Sunday, the Classic's final day.
With ECU trailing 1-0
after 5 1/2 innings, senior third baseman Corey Thompson scored on
junior first baseman John Wooten's single to knot the score before
Wright delivered his decisive double-bagger, knocking in Thompson and
sophomore designated hitter Chase McDonald. Thompson and McDonald both
reached base on singles.
Joyner (2-0) gave up three
hits and no walks, facing only 24 batters through seven innings of work.
A pair of righthanded
freshmen came on to protect the triumph for Joyner. Tanner Merrit
bottled up WCU in the 8th and Drew Reynolds locked down the outcome in
the 9th, picking up his third save.
Junior lefty Morgan
McKinney (1-1) gave up all three of ECU's runs before retiring after six
innings and got credit for the loss.
Purdue turned four double
plays, including rally-squelching ones in the 8th and 9th innings, to
hand East Carolina its first loss of the season.
The Boilermakers pulled
out the 6-4 win despite scoring only three earned runs and being out-hit
by the Pirates 10 hits to 9. ECU committed three errors, a pair by
sophomore shortstop Jack Reinheimer and one by losing pitcher Kevin
Brandt (1-1), the team's senior left-handed mound ace.
Starter Joe Haase (1-0), a
senior righthander, pitched 5 1/3 innings and picked up the win for
Purdue.
A highlight for ECU was a
two-run, first-inning homer by Thompson, his second round-tripper of the
season.
In Saturday's other
contests, Maryland shut out Western Carolina in the opener 3-0 and
pounded Purdue in the nightcap 11-1 in a game that was concluded after
eight innings.
The East Carolina-Purdue
and Maryland-WCU contests were originally slated for Friday but
stormy weather prompted
officials to add the games to Saturday's schedule instead.
The LeClair Classic will
climax today with matchups pitting the Catamounts against the
Boilermakers at 10 a.m. and ECU against the Terrapins at 2 p.m.
PAGE UPDATED
02/26/12 09:52 PM.
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