Relievers shine in 12-inning draw

From electronic and staff reports
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East Carolina rallied from a 4-1 deficit to force extra innings and both teams relied on stellar bullpen performances to stay alive as the Pirates and Conference USA foe Houston battled to a marathon 4-4 tie on Saturday at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

After East Carolina took advantage of three hits and a pair of Cougar errors to push three runs across the plate in the bottom of the seventh, neither team scored again. The game was called and declared a tie after 12 innings in keeping with the league's travel curfew policies for visiting teams.

After a harmless single by ECU sophomore shortstop Jack Reinheimer in the 8th, the Pirates were neutralized the rest of the way. Senior righthander Mo Wiley, who took over for Houston starter Austin Pruitt to start the ninth, pitched four innings of perfect ball.

East Carolina righthander Tanner Merritt put on an impressive relief stint of his own. Merrit pitched the final 6 1/3 innings, parceling out five hits and no walks while not allowing a run.

ECU starter Jharel Cotton, a junior righthander, lasted five innings, giving up five hits and one run. Junior righthander Andy Smithmyer relieved Cotton in the 6th and was roughed up for three runs on three hits and an error before giving way to Merritt after retiring two batters. Only one of the runs charged against Smithmyer was earned.

Tim Younger led the Pirates at the plate with three hits, including a double that was his team's only extra-base hit. The senior second baseman also scored a pair of runs.

Reinheimer, junior first baseman John Wooten and junior outfielder Philip Clark each contributed two hits for East Carolina.

Cougars junior outfielder Jacob Lueneburg put on the day's best offensive performance, going 4-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI. Senior pinch hitter/catcher John Cannon had three hits and junior designated hitter Corey Grayson added two hits, including a double.

The Pirates (22-8-1, 6-2-1 C-USA) won the first two games in the series, trouncing Houston on Thursday and hammering the Cougars (11-18-1, 1-7-1) on Friday in a game shortened by C-USA's mercy rule.

East Carolina will bus to Elon for a game on Tuesday and return home for a matchup with Old Dominion on Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m.

PAGE UPDATED 04/08/12 08:08 AM.

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