ECU Baseball | Pirates pull off improbable comeback [Ba-042313]

Trailing 5-3 and down to its final out with no runners on base in the bottom of the ninth, East Carolina erupted for five runs to defeat Elon 8-5 Tuesday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The key blows in the remarkable rally were Zach Houchins' two-run double that knotted the game and Ben Fultz's three-run homer that sealed the outcome.

After Dylan Brown hit into a groundout and Bryan Bass was retired on a flyout, Jack Reinheimer walked and Drew Reynolds singled to ignite the uprising.

Houchins followed with a double to right center, driving in Reinheimer and pinch-runner Deshorn Lake to tie the score.

Nick Thompson kept the rally alive with a walk, setting the stage for Fultz's base-clearing, walk-off blast.

The triumph was ECU's fourth in a row, equaling its longest winning streak of the season. The Pirates improved to 21-20, the first time in more than a month they've been above .500.

The Phoenix fell to 22-21.

Houchins went 4-for-5 on the night, including a pair of doubles and a sixth inning home run. Fultz and Reynolds each had two hits.

Freshman lefthander Nick Durazo picked up the victory after coming on in relief with two outs in the top of the ninth and two runners on base. Durazo fanned the only batter he faced to cut off Elon's push to pad its lead.

Nate Young, the seventh in a parade of nine Phoenix pitchers, absorbed the loss.

ECU now turns its focus to a Conference USA home series with Memphis this weekend. The three-game set gets underway Friday at 6 p.m.

BOX SCORE #41

EAST CAROLINA 8, ELON 5

• ECU SID GAME STORY
• EU SID GAME STORY

Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Venue: Clark-LeClair Stadium, Greenville, NC
Attendance: 2,183.

Records: ECU 21-20; EU 22-21.

ELON AB R H BI
Quinn Bower cf.......... 3 1 1 0
Sebastian Gomez 2b...... 5 0 1 1
Ryan Kinsella 1b........ 5 1 1 3
Alex Swim c............. 4 0 1 0
Antonio Alvarez ss...... 3 0 0 0
Joey Tomko 3b........... 3 1 0 0
Chris Bresnahan 3b...... 0 0 0 0
Casey Jones rf.......... 4 1 3 0
Chris King dh........... 3 0 1 1
Blaine Bower lf......... 3 1 0 0
Andrew MacDonald p...... 0 0 0 0
John Antonelli p........ 0 0 0 0
Ryan Pennell p.......... 0 0 0 0
Danny Lynch p........... 0 0 0 0
Brandon Kacer p......... 0 0 0 0
Jordan Darnell p........ 0 0 0 0
Nate Young p............ 0 0 0 0
Jacob Baker p........... 0 0 0 0
Tyler Manez p........... 0 0 0 0
TOTALS..................33 5 8 5

EAST CAROLINA AB R H BI
Bass, Bryan 2b.......... 4 0 0 0
Reinheimer, Jack ss..... 4 1 0 0
Reynolds, Drew dh/p..... 5 1 2 0
Lake, Deshorn pr........ 0 1 0 0
Houchins, Zach 3b....... 5 2 4 3
McDonald, Chase 1b...... 3 0 0 1
Clark, Philip pr/rf..... 0 0 0 0
Thompson, Nick ph....... 0 1 0 0
Fultz, Ben rf/lf........ 4 1 2 3
Lowery, Luke c.......... 2 0 0 0
Watkins, Travis c....... 0 1 0 0
Brooks, Garrett cf...... 1 0 0 0
King, Sam ph............ 1 0 0 0
Cannon, Jay 1b.......... 0 0 0 0
Durazo, Nick p.......... 0 0 0 0
Gosik, Chris lf......... 1 0 0 0
Brown, Dylan ph/rf...... 2 0 0 0
Mabry, Brett p.......... 0 0 0 0
Hughes, Joseph p........ 0 0 0 0
TOTALS..................32 8 8 7

SCORE BY INNINGS....... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - R H E
ELON................... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 - 5 8 1
EAST CAROLINA.......... 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 5 - 8 8 0

Note: 2 outs, 0 runners LOB when game ended.

E - Kinsella(9).
LOB - EU 7; ECU 8.
2B - Houchins 2(11).
HR - Kinsella(17); Houchins(4); Fultz(2).
HBP - QBower; Tomko; BBower; Brooks, G.
SH - King(1); Gosik(1).
SB - Brooks, G.(1).
CS - Swim(3); Bass(6).

EU PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO
Andrew MacDonald.... 2.0 1 0 0 2 5
John Antonelli...... 2.0 2 1 0 0 4
Ryan Pennell........ 1.1 0 0 0 0 0
Danny Lynch......... 0.1 1 1 1 0 0
Brandon Kacer....... 0.1 0 0 0 0 1
Jordan Darnell...... 0.0 0 1 0 2 0
Nate Young.......... 2.2 3 3 3 3 2
Jacob Baker......... 0.0 0 1 1 1 0
Tyler Manez......... 0.0 1 1 1 0 0

ECU PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO
Mabry, Brett........ 5.0 3 1 1 0 6
Hughes, Joseph...... 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
Reynolds, Drew...... 1.2 5 4 4 2 2
Durazo, Nick........ 0.1 0 0 0 0 1

Win - Durazo (1-4).
Loss - Young (1-1).
Save - None.
WP - Mabry 2(4); Hughes(2).
HBP - by Mabry (QBower); by Mabry (Tomko);
by Pennell (Brooks, G.); by Reynolds (BBower).
PB - Swim(4); Lowery(5).

Umpires - HP: Mike Parnell; 1B: Greg Street; 3B: Mac Stokes.
Start: 6:02 PM; Time: 3:10.
Attendance: 2,183.

Darnell faced 2 batters in 7th; Baker faced 1 batter in 9th; Manez faced 1 batter in 9th.

Page updated: 04/25/2013 07:30 PM.

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