Bunt yields ECU win in 10th

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GREENVILLE  — With the score tied at 2 in the bottom of the 10th, East Carolina's Luke Lowery bunted down the third base line with Drew Reynolds taking a lead at third as ECU faced Texas-San Antonio on Saturday.

The Roadrunners opted not to make a play on the ball, hoping it would roll foul.

Reynolds had already raced home when the ball hit third base and the Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd of 2,276 roared its approval with a 3-2 victory.

The Pirates won their last regular season game at home in 2014 and captured their final Conference USA series two games to one.

ECU will compete in the American Athletic Conference next school year.

Reynolds (4-2) pitched the last four innings for the Pirates in relief of starter Brett Mabry.

UTSA (33-24, 16-14 C-USA) scored twice in the top of the fifth for a 2-0 lead. A two-out solo home run by John Welborn gave the visitors a 1-0 lead. Consecutive singles by Horacio Correa III, R.J. Perucki and Mike Warren put ECU behind, 2-0.

The Pirates got one run back in the bottom of the fifth. Charlie Yorgen was hit by a pitch with one out and Reynolds walked. Yorgen went to third on a fly ball by Zach Houchins and Dylan Brown's RBI single brought ECU within 2-1.

Lowery doubled down the right field line in the sixth and moved to third on a ground out by Bryce Harman. A fielding error by the Roadrunners catcher allowed Lowery to score the tying run.

Mabry's six-inning stint included seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

Reynolds yielded two hits, walked one and fanned four.

ECU outhit UTSA 11-9 with Lowery going 3-for-5 with his sixth double of the season and the game-winning RBI. Reynolds and Hunter Allen each had two hits for the Pirates (32-24, 16-14).

ECU is seeded sixth for the C-USA Tournament at Southern Miss. The Pirates meet the host Golden Eagles, the No. 3 seed, at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Fifth-seeded Old Dominion and fourth-seeded Middle Tennessee lead off the event at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Eighth-seeded Florida International plays top-seeded Rice, the regular season champion, at 1:30 p.m. UTSA claimed the seventh seeding and takes on second-seeded Alabama-Birmingham at 5 p.m. on opening day.

PAGE UPDATED 05/18/14 04:49 AM.

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