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Lively masters Pirates in
series opener
From staff and electronic reports
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GREENVILLE — Central Florida's Ben Lively opened a
three-game Conference USA baseball series at East Carolina's Clark-LeClair
Stadium with a four-hit shutout as the Knights topped the Pirates 2-0 on
Thursday night.
ECU (28-24, 12-10 C-USA) fell behind in the first
inning and the Knights added another run in the fourth.
Lively (7-4), a junior right-hander, had seven
strikeouts and one walk in his second shutout of the season.
Jeff Hoffman (6-6) went eight innings for the Pirates.
The sophomore right-hander allowed six hits while striking out five and
walking six. Brett Mabry pitched a scoreless inning of relief for ECU.
UCF (29-25, 13-9) got a leadoff double from Erik Hempe
to start the game and James Vasquez's fly to left allowed him to advance to
third. The Knights went ahead 1-0 on a sacrifice fly to center field by
Chris Taladay.
UCF took a 2-0 lead on JoMarcos Woods' RBI double in
the fourth after Bret Gordon had walked.
Lively kept the Pirates hitless until the fourth inning
when Bryan Bass had an infield single. UCF followed up with a double play.
Drew Reynolds subsequently had the first of two hits and stole second in the
fourth, but he was stranded on a lineout by Zach Houchins.
Hempe reached over the right field fence in the fifth
inning to rob Chase McDonald of a home run.
Pirates right fielder Jay Cannon threw a UCF runner out
at the plate in the seventh. Hits by Reynolds and Houchins in the bottom of
the seventh gave ECU a scoring opportunity but McDonald flied out and Lively
got Ben Fultz to pop up to short.
ECU will recognize seniors and four recent graduates at
5:35 p.m. Friday evening prior to game two of the series at 6 p.m.
The Pirates conclude the regular season at home against
the Knights with an 11 a.m. start on Saturday. That contest will be
televised on Fox Sports Net. |