Short and sweet for the Pirates

From electronic and staff reports
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GREENVILLE — Mother Nature and Central Florida's travel schedule helped East Carolina to a 6-5 Conference USA baseball win in just six innings at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday.

After Chase McDonald lifted the Pirates to a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the first inning, there was a two hour, 54-minute weather delay before Ben Fultz launched a mammoth grand slam to right field in the second inning that boosted the advantage to 6-0.

Walks to Chris Gosik, Jack Reinheimer and McDonald preceded the belt by Fultz that descended onto the practice football field.

There was an agreement that a new inning wouldn't start after 3 p.m. because of UCF's departure and that helped the Pirates hold off a UCF comeback.

The Knights managed five runs against ECU starter Ryan Williams in four innings, all of which were earned. Andy Smithmyer faced three batters, allowing a hit and walking one, before he was pulled for Jake Harris (3-3), who was awarded the win. Harris pitched two innings with two strikeouts. He yielded one hit.

ECU improved to 30-24 overall and 14-10 in the league with its sixth straight series triumph. UCF, which won the opening game in Greenville on Thursday before losing a 5-0 lead on Friday, slipped to 29-27 for the season and 13-11 in C-USA.

The Pirates earned the third seeding for next week's conference tournament, according to Malcolm Gray, ECU baseball media contact.

Brian Adkins (4-7), the first of five Knights pitchers, was saddled with the loss.

Reinheimer had singled off Adkins before McDonald connected for his blast into "the Jungle" beyond the left field fence for his 11th round tripper of the season.

A solo homer by Ryan Breen in the third sparked a three-run inning by the Knights. Bret Gordon collected two RBIs later in the frame.

Erik Hempe's eighth homer helped UCF cut the lead to 6-5 in the fifth. Harris came in with the bases loaded. He held the lead with a pop up and a pair of whiffs.

Fultz was 3-for-3 although the Pirates were outhit 11-9. Nick Thompson had a pair of hits for ECU.

The C-USA Tournament is scheduled to start Wednesday in Houston.

PAGE UPDATED 05/18/13 08:08 PM.

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