Lucroy, Lowery help Pirates take series

From electronic and staff reports
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Redshirt freshman righthander David Lucroy logged six solid innings and freshman designated hitter Luke Lowery belted a home run to help East Carolina capture a 6-4 victory over Jacksonville Sunday afternoon at John Sessions Stadium.

Lucroy struck out seven in six innings and limited the Dolphins to three runs on seven hits, three walks and a pair of hit batsmen before handing a 5-3 lead to senior southpaw reliever Jake Harris to start the seventh.

Lowery's fourth inning blast gave the Pirates their fifth run and proved to be the decisive score when Harris served up a seventh-inning triple to Jacksonville freshman outfielder Nathan Koslowski, who scored one batter later on an infield groundout.

Junior first baseman-turned-relief pitcher Drew Reynolds took over for Harris with two outs in the eighth and handcuffed Jacksonville the rest of the way. Reynolds allowed no hits and no runs to close out the victory and pick up his sixth save of the season.

ECU added an insurance run in the ninth on freshman catcher Travis Watkins' RBI single. Watkins' hit drove in junior third baseman Zach Houchins, who had reached first on a walk and advanced to second on Reynolds' sacrifice bunt.

Lucroy (3-1) got credit for the victory, while Jacksonville starter Alex McRae (1-2) absorbed the loss.

The Pirates jumped on McRae for four runs in the first inning on three walks, two hits and an error.

A sophomore righthander, McRae settled down after the shaky beginning and surrendered only one run on two hits and a walk over the next six frames.

Jacksonville scored a run in the third, two in the fifth and one in the seventh, but ECU stayed beyond the Dolphins' reach to claim supremacy in the three-game series.

The Pirates lost Friday's opener 3-2 and evened the series on Saturday with a 16-9 blowout.

ECU will continue its road tour on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. contest at UNC-Wilmington.

PAGE UPDATED 03/17/13 07:08 PM.

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