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Pirates catch fire late and sizzle past Devils
By Denny O'Brien
©2001 Bonesville.net
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DURHAM — It took a while for East Carolina's bats to heat up Tuesday night,
but they eventually got cooking.
ECU's Jason Mandryk gets
set to deliver at Jack Coombs Field in
Durham Tuesday night. Mandryk (5-1) picked up the win over Duke after scattering 8 hits
and one run in five innings. Neal Sears, Kieran Mattison and
Jason Tourangeau combined for four innings of one-hit shutout
relief as the Pirates bashed the Blue Devils 8-1.
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Photos by Denny O'Brien
©2002 Bonesville.net. |
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Trailing Duke 1-0 entering the fifth inning, the Pirates went on a
scoring barrage, plating one in the fifth, two in the sixth and seventh, and
three more in the eighth to snare what turned out to be a routine 8-1 non-conference victory.
With the win, the Pirates improved their record to 30-10-1 overall, while
Duke fell to 19-23.
Neal Sears pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief of starter Jason
Mandryk (5-1) to help seal Mandryk's 5th win of the season. Justin Dilucchio (4-3) took the loss for the Devils.
"It was good to pick up number 30," assistant coach Kevin McMullan said.
"Obviously, this is a good mid-week win against a good Duke team."
"We started off slow, but finished up strong. That's always a positive
sign. Jason Mandryk coming back was obviously good for the Pirates. He
pitched well through about 5 1/2 innings, then Neal Sears came in and put
out the fire in a tough situation just as he's done all season. Overall, it
was a pretty good night for the Pirates."
Mandryk, who was making his first appearance since his April 7 start
against Houston, pitched five innings, allowing just one run, while
scattering eight hits, striking out three, and walking two.
The Pirates banged out 12 hits on the evening, paced by shortstop Luke
Cherry's 3-4 performance. Bryant Ward and Darryl Lawhorn pitched in with
two hits apiece, while Jedd Sorenson added a bases-loaded single to break
the game open in the eighth.
"I think we've been opportunistic at the right times," McMullan said.
"It seems that when we bunt, and start moving runners around a little bit,
it seems like our guys get a little bit more aware of what's going on."
East Carolina travels to Memphis Friday for the first of a three-game
Conference USA series with the Tigers. Game one is set to start at 8 PM
EST.
"There are no off weekends in our conference," McMullan said. "We're
looking forward to the challenge. Anytime you go on the road in this
conference, you expect their best."
There will be little rest for the road-weary when the Pirates return
Sunday from the City of Elvis. ECU will hop on a bus Tuesday and head to
Chapel Hill for a rematch against the same North Carolina team it defeated
last Wednesday in Greenville.
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02/23/2007 02:05:55 AM
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