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COLLEGE BASEBALL
2012 Game No. 39
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Reckling outduels Brandt with
one-hit gem
From staff and electronic reports
View the Mobile Alpha version of this report.
Rice's Matthew Reckling picked a good time for an
overpowering mound performance. The senior righthander engaged East Carolina
ace Kevin Brandt in a superb pitching duel Friday night and prevailed with a
2-0 shutout at Reckling Park.
On an evening when Brandt pitched well enough to
win against an ordinary foe, Reckling (7-0) was anything but ordinary,
allowing only one hit, a fifth inning single down the left field line by ECU
junior outfielder Jay Cannon. Reckling, whose grandfather T.R. Reckling
played for the Owls in the 1950s and is the namesake of the team's home
field, struck out ten, walked two and hit a batter.
Despite Reckling's dominating pitching display, the
game was not without its drama. With one out in the ninth, Reckling issued a
walk to ECU junior outfielder Philip Clark and dinged senior second baseman
Tim Younger, putting runners on first and second. But sophomore designated
hitter Drew Reynolds' sharp grounder to the right was snagged by junior
second baseman Christian Stringer and converted into a 4-6-3 double play.
Rice scored a run in the first when Stringer
singled up the middle, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior
outfielder Michael Fuda, and then came home on junior first baseman J.T.
Chargois' single up the middle.
The Owls got an insurance run in the sixth on
junior outfielder Jeremy Rathjen's home run to center field.
Brandt (5-3) went the distance for the Pirates and
scattered six hits. The senior southpaw fanned one, walked two and hit one
batsman.
The game was a defensive chess match with no errors
committed. East Carolina pulled off two timely double plays while Rice came
up with one — the one that ended the Pirates' threat in the ninth inning.
Rain forced a delay of more than two hours beyond
the game's scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time. Once the first pitch was thrown,
however, Reckling and Brandt kept base runners to a minimum and the contest
concluded only one hour and 38 minutes after it began.
The weekend series between the teams continues on Saturday (3
p.m.) and concludes on Sunday (12 p.m.)
BOX SCORE #39
Rice 2, East Carolina 0
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ECU SID GAME STORY
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RU SID GAME STORY
Date: Friday, April 20, 2012
Venue: Reckling Park, Houston, TX
Attendance: 3,229
Records: ECU 26-12-1, 8-4-1 Conference USA;
RU 29-11, 10-3.
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