Pirates take Tulane in extra innings

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Timely hitting in the top of the 13th lifted East Carolina to a 3-2 Conference USA victory over Tulane Friday night at Turchin Stadium, salvaging a positive outcome from a stellar tandem pitching performance that almost went for naught.

Bryan Bass's RBI sacrifice fly drove in Ben Fultz for the decisive run and validated a masterful outing by ECU starter Jeff Hoffman and a lockdown relief stint by Drew Reynolds.

Bass's one-out fly to left field followed a double by Fultz and singles by Garrett Brooks and Nick Thompson.

With Hoffman keeping Tulane's batters off balance inning after inning, the Pirates had a chance to close out the win in the ninth.

But ECU's 2-0 lead slipped away as the Wave leveraged a single, a double, a fielders choice and throwing errors by shortstop Jack Reinheimer and first baseman Chase McDonald into two runs to force extra innings.

Hoffman logged 9 2/3 frames, striking out six and giving up only three hits and two walks.

Reynolds took over from there, whiffing six and nailing down the triumph with 3 1/3 perfect innings.

Zach Houchins was the Pirates' biggest offensive star of the day, going 4-for-6 and scoring ECU's first two runs.

Houchins tripled in the second and came in on a sacrifice fly by McDonald. He belted a solo homer to left in the top of the ninth, which effectively prevented the Wave from winning with its two-run rally in the bottom of the inning.

The Pirates out-hit Tulane 14-3, but left 15 runners stranded on base.

East Carolina put a stop to a two-game losing skid with the win and improved to 16-18 (2-5 C-USA), while the Green Wave fell to 17-19 (4-6).

ECU will go for the series win when the teams face off Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Due to the potential for rain on Sunday, coaches will consider moving that day's series finale up by a day, resulting in a Saturday doubleheader. The decision will be made prior to Saturday's regularly-scheduled game.

PAGE UPDATED 04/13/13 10:41 AM.

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