Reckling outduels Brandt
with one-hit gem
From electronic and staff reports
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Rice's Matthew Reckling picked a good time for
an overpowering mound performance. The senior righthander engaged East
Carolina ace Kevin Brandt in a superb pitching duel Friday night and
prevailed with a 2-0 shutout at Reckling Park.
On an evening when Brandt pitched well enough
to win against an ordinary foe, Reckling (7-0) was anything but ordinary,
allowing only one hit, a fifth inning single down the left field line by ECU
junior outfielder Jay Cannon. Reckling, whose grandfather T.R. Reckling
played for the Owls in the 1950s and is the namesake of the team's home
field, struck out ten, walked two and hit a batter.
Despite Reckling's dominating pitching
display, the game was not without its drama. With one out in the ninth,
Reckling issued a walk to ECU junior outfielder Philip Clark and dinged
senior second baseman Tim Younger, putting runners on first and second. But
sophomore designated hitter Drew Reynolds' sharp grounder to the right was
snagged by junior second baseman Christian Stringer and converted into a
4-6-3 double play.
Rice scored a run in the first when Stringer
singled up the middle, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior
outfielder Michael Fuda, and then came home on junior first baseman J.T.
Chargois' single up the middle.
The Owls got an insurance run in the sixth on
junior outfielder Jeremy Rathjen's home run to center field.
Brandt (5-3) went the distance for the Pirates
and scattered six hits. The senior southpaw fanned one, walked two and hit
one batsman.
The game was a defensive chess match with no
errors committed. East Carolina pulled off two timely double plays while
Rice came up with one — the one that ended the Pirates' threat in the ninth
inning.
Rain forced a delay of more than two hours
beyond the game's scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time. Once the first pitch was
thrown, however, Reckling and Brandt kept base runners to a minimum and the
contest concluded only one hour and 38 minutes after it began.
The weekend series between the teams continues
on Saturday (3
p.m.) and concludes on Sunday (12 p.m.)
PAGE UPDATED
04/21/12 08:51 AM.
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