Ninth inning snafu sinks
Pirates
From electronic and staff reports
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Old Dominion's Chris Baker raced home from
second base on a misplayed ninth inning popup to score the decisive run in a
3-2 upset victory over East Carolina Wednesday night at Clark-LeClair
Stadium.
Baker, a senior first baseman, led off the
inning with an infield single and moved to second on a passed ball. Two outs
later, ECU senior third baseman Corey Thompson committed the fateful error
on junior designated hitter Shawn Sizemore's infield flyer, allowing Baker
to reach home plate.
The Pirates (23-9-1) had an opportunity to tie
or win in the bottom half of the inning, putting runners on second and third
with two outs. But Monarchs closer Dean Ali, a sophomore righthander,
retired freshman pinch hitter Nick Thompson on a fly to right field to end
the threat and pick up the save.
Each team employed four pitchers in the game.
Junior righthander Brandon Smith (5-1) got credit for the win after pitching
hitless ball from the sixth through the eighth innings, walking one and
hitting a pair of batters but keeping East Carolina off the scoreboard.
Junior lefthander Jake Harris continued his
comeback from Tommy John surgery, taking over for ECU starter Deshorn Lake
in the third and hurling 4 1/3 innings of no-hit ball. Harris walked only
one during the impressive stint.
Junior righthander Andy Smithmyer (2-2)
relieved Harris in the seventh and took the loss. Smithmyer pitched two
innings and gave up one hit, one walk and the ninth inning unearned run that
spelled defeat for the Pirates.
Baker and freshman outfielder Josh Eldridge
had two hits apiece for the Monarchs (12-21). The game's offensive highlight
came when ODU senior shortstop Josh Wright belted a two-run homer down the
left field line in the third inning.
Senior catcher Zach Wright and sophomore
shortstop Jack Reinheimer each banged out two of East Carolina's six hits.
One of Reinheimer's hits was a triple that drove in two runs in the fourth,
knotting the score at 2-2.
East Carolina is off Thursday and begins a
weekend road series against Conference USA foe Memphis on Friday (7:30 p.m.)
PAGE UPDATED
04/12/12 04:13 AM.
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