Brandt rolls back Crimson Tide

From electronic and staff reports
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Senior ace Kevin Brandt struck out seven and parceled out six hits and two walks over eight innings as East Carolina defeated Alabama 3-1 Friday night to put a damper on the host team's debut in the DRASH Alabama Classic before a crowd of 3,390 at Thomas-Sewell Stadium.

Brandt got all the runs he needed in the top of the third when sophomore centerfielder Ben Fultz and junior leftfielder Bryan Bass singled and came home on senior third baseman Corey Thompson's double to left center. An insurance run was added when sophomore first baseman Chase McDonald singled to drive in Thompson.

Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard credited Brandt (3-1) with thwarting the Crimson Tide's offensive efforts.

"The lefthander for them [East Carolina] is good,” Gaspard told rolltide.com after the game. “He was your typical Friday night starter, and he didn’t give us a whole lot of opportunities."

Alabama (5-8) avoided a shutout by manufacturing a run in the bottom of the fourth. First baseman Austen Smith hit a two-bagger to right center, advanced to second on a groundout to shortstop by junior leftfielder Cameron Carlisle, then scored on a groundout to second by junior third baseman Brett Booth.

Tanner Merritt relieved Brandt in the ninth. After retiring the first two batters, the sophomore righthander gave up a pair of hits before fanning junior rightfielder Brandt Henricks to nail down his second save.

Junior right-hander Charley Sullivan (2-2) took the loss despite a solid effort in which he scattered eight hits and issued no walks over eight innings before freshman southpaw Jon Keller took over in the ninth.

Next up for the 29th-ranked Pirates (9-3) in the round-robin invitational event is a 1 p.m. matchup today against Oral Roberts (6-6), which was beaten 7-3 by No. 14 Louisville (10-3) on Friday.

East Carolina will face the Cardinals on Sunday at 11 a.m.

PAGE UPDATED 03/10/12 08:21 PM.

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