Central Florida has no mercy on Pirates

From electronic and staff reports
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Central Florida chased East Carolina starter Jharel Cotton after 1 2/3 innings and generally outplayed the Pirates from the beginning to the abbreviated end for an easy 11-1 victory Friday afternoon in the Conference USA Championship tournament at Trustmark Park in Pearl, MS.

A junior righthander, Cotton (8-2) gave up four runs on six hits and a walk before giving way to junior lefthander Tyler Joyner, who fared little better in his three-innings of work.

ECU scored its lone run in the second on singles by senior catcher Zach Wright, sophomore first baseman Chase McDonald and junior outfielder Bryan Bass. But UCF got to Joyner for two runs in the 3rd and three more in the 4th to extend its lead to 9-1 and put the game essentially out of reach.

The Knights put on a finishing flourish with two outs in the 8th, bringing freshman righthander Dylan Dickens' two-inning relief stint to an end by pushing across two runs and establishing a 10-run lead.

Junior leftie Jake Harris came in from the bullpen and got the final out of the frame on a strikeout after giving up a walk and a double.

When the Pirates failed to score in their half of the inning, the game was declared over in accordance with C-USA's 10-run rule, otherwise known as the "mercy rule."

UCF banged out 14 hits with Chris Taladay producing the biggest highlights. The junior catcher went 3-for-5 — including a homer and a triple — and recorded two runs scored and five runs batted in.

Sophomore designated hitter Drew Reynolds had three of ECU's eight hits.

Ben Lively (9-2) put in a solid start for the Knights, surrendering one run on six hits and three walks. The sophomore righthander was relieved after six innings by junior southpaw Chris Matulis, who pitched two innings of shutout ball.

The tournament is being conducted under a two-pod format. The pod one teams are Rice, Southern Miss, Memphis and Houston. UCF, Tulane, East Carolina and UAB are in pod two.

Although a slate of intra-pod games is still to be played, Memphis and UAB have already clinched the top spots in the respective pods and will meet on Sunday (2 p.m., CBS Sports Network) for the championship and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

In the meantime, pod play wraps up on Saturday with Tulane facing UCF at 12 p.m., ECU taking on UAB at 4 p.m. and Southern Miss going against Rice at 8 p.m.

PAGE UPDATED 05/27/12 09:33 AM.

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