Pirates walk off with series

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GREENVILLE — Chase McDonald bounced a grounder between short and third to score pinch runner Jay Cannon from second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth as East Carolina topped Conference USA leading Southern Miss 3-2 on Sunday at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates won the series two games to one in improving to 26-22 on the season and 10-8 in the league. The Golden Eagles fell to 25-21, 14-7 as McDonald got a slider he could handle from Conor Fisk (4-2), who went the route in the loss.

Drew Reynolds and Zach Houchins had one-out hits in ECU's half of the ninth before a crowd of 2,167. Coach Billy Godwin inserted Cannon, who wears the No. 23 of former Pirates coach Keith LeClair, after Reynolds reached second.

The beefy McDonald made a winner out of Brett Mabry (3-2), who came on to finish on the mound for ECU with one and two-thirds scoreless innings. Starter Ryan Williams went seven and one third innings, scattering 10 hits and allowing a pair of runs while fanning two and walking one.

Luke Lowery gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the fifth with a towering home run to left for his fourth round tripper of the season.

McDonald launched his seventh homer of the season in the seventh for a 2-0 ECU lead.

Reynolds had two base knocks and extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

Southern Miss got singles from Travis Creel and Isaac Rodriguez off of Williams in the eighth before Mabry came in and yielded a score-tying, two-run double to Mason Robbins.

Both teams were errorless Sunday. ECU had committed four miscues in a 10-9 loss to USM in 11 innings on Saturday.

Godwin said he planned to give the team Monday and Tuesday off so that the players could focus on the remainder of their spring semester exams.

The Pirates play again on Friday at 7 p.m. when they start a C-USA series at Marshall.

PAGE UPDATED 05/05/13 11:23 PM.

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