Pirates top Rice, 3-2

From electronic and staff reports
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

HOUSTON  — East Carolina scored twice in the top of the ninth to take a 3-2 Conference USA win over No. 14 Rice in a game televised on the Fox College Sports Network on Friday night.

Charlie Yorgen was hit by a pitch to start the ninth for the Pirates. A sacrifice bunt by Garrett Brooks moved Yorgen to second. Eric Tyler was hit by a pitch and Hunter Allen singled to load the bases.

A two-out single up the middle by Drew Reynolds drove in a pair of runs for a 3-1 ECU lead.

Reynolds hit the first pitch of the at-bat to make a winner of Jeff Hoffman (2-3), who scattered seven hits over eight innings. Hoffman allowed the Owls an earned run in the fifth. He struck out seven and walked one.

Ryan Williams fielded a chopper to the mound for the final out to strand the potential tying run at third. Williams yielded two hits and an earned run before nailing down his third save.

The Pirates (18-12, 7-3 C-USA) won for the eighth time in their last nine games.

Consecutive two-out singles by Blake Fox, John Williamson and Keenan Cook gave Rice (21-11, 9-4) a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning.

Allen scored the tying run for the Pirates in the sixth after being hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Dylan Brown moved him to second and a single by Reynolds put him at third. Ian Townsend's RBI single down the left field line tied the score.

Reynolds was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

Matt Ditman (2-4) took the loss.

Today's game has been moved up two hours for a 1 p.m. start due to the threat of unsuitable weather later in the day.

The probable pitchers this afternoon are a pair of left-handers, Reid Love (2-1, 2.31 earned run average) for ECU and Fox (6-0, 1.14) for the Owls.

PAGE UPDATED 04/05/14 03:29 AM.

Copyright © Bonesville.net. All rights rights reserved. No content on this site may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any fashion without explicit written permission from the editor. Information from Bonesville staff members, East Carolina University, Conference USA and other sources was used in composing and/or compiling the articles and data on this site. This site is editorially independent and is not affiliated with East Carolina University or Conference USA. View Bonesville.net's privacy policy. For advertising or other information, e-mail editor@bonesville.net.