April 28, 2007

Final Stats

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Jody Blount finished with three hits, including a triple and a home run, an intentional walk and two RBIs to lead the Golden Eagles to a 6-3 win, tonight, at Clark-LeClair Stadium in front of 2,902 in attendance.

JR Ballinger (1-1) earned his first win of the season, pitching one inning, giving up two hits and a walk. Patrick Ezell (8) earned his eighth save of the season, pitching the final inning, giving up one hit. Starting pitcher Ryan Belanger pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out three batters.

Pirate relief pitcher Jason Neitz (4-2) was credited with the loss, pitching 1.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits, walking two and striking out one batter.

There were two rain delays in tonight's game, a four-minute delay in the bottom of the season and 1:14 delay in the top of the fourth inning.

Southern Miss (26-18, 7-9 C-USA) finished with six runs on nine hits and committed two errors, while East Carolina (28-14, 6-6 C-USA) scored three runs on 11 hits. The Pirates stranded 14 runners on base, while the Golden Eagles left nine on base.

Blount led the Golden Eagles with three hits, two runs scored, a walk and two RBIs, while Michael Ewing finished with two hits, including a double and an RBI and Drew Carson and Eddie Burger each had an RBI hit. Burger hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, his first of the season.

Ryan Wood, Kyle Roller, Corey Kemp and Jake Dean each finished with two hits. Harrison Eldridge finished with an RBI, and Wood and Dean each had one.

Southern Miss took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Blount solo homer over the left field wall.

The Pirates scored a run in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1. Stephen Batts led off with a single through the left side, moved to second on Roller's single to right field, advanced to third on Corey Kemp's sacrifice pitcher Ryan Belanger and scored on Dean's ground out to short.

East Carolina scored a single run in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Kemp reached on a one-out walk, moved to second on Dean's bloop single to right, advanced to third when Brandon Henderson was hit by a pitch and scored when Harrison Eldridge flew out right field.

Southern Miss tied the game with a single run in the fifth inning. Brian Dozier walked to lead off the inning, Trey Sutton singled through the left side, Michael Ewing was intentionally walked and then Trey Cuevas walked to plate Dozier.

The Pirates scored a run in the sixth inning to take a 3-2 lead. Dean singled to left to lead off the inning, moved to second on Henderson's sacrifice to third base, advanced to third on a Belanger wild pitch and scored on Wood's single through the right side.

The Golden Eagles scored three runs in the seventh inning to take the 5-3 lead. James Ewing doubled down the left field line and scored on Blount's triple to center field. Michael Ewing doubled down the right field line to score Blount and Drew Carson singled to left field to plate Michael Ewing.

Southern Miss added another run to their lead in the eighth inning when Eddie Burger hit his first home run of the season over the left field wall.

Game two of the Conference USA weekend series between Southern Miss and East Carolina will take place on Saturday night at 6 p.m., CT, at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, N.C.