May 16, 2008

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

No. 30 East Carolina 17, Memphis 3

No. 30 East Carolina (39-16; 13-10 C-USA)     120 140 531 - 17 19 1
Memphis (16-38; 4-18 C-USA)                   001 001 010 -  3  3 2

No. 30 East Carolina got a six-inning, nine strikeout performance from its starter Justin Bristow and its offense crossed four runs in the fifth inning and five more in the seventh to end Memphis's bid for a third straight C-USA Tournament appearance with a 17-3 rout of the Tigers on Friday night.

UAB defeated Southern Miss 6-0 in game one of their doubleheader prior to the Tigers game. With the Blazers win, the Tigers were forced to defeat ECU to keep its hopes for postseason play alive. However, the Memphis offense could not muster much production early, while its counterpart pounded out 19 hits.

ECU took an early 2-0 lead after two innings after a RBI-double by Corey Kemp in the first inning and a two-run double from Dustin Harrington in the second. Harrington was one of four Pirates to record four hits in the game, finishing the night 4-for-5 with five RBI.

Memphis cut the lead to 3-1 on a leadoff home run by Chris Newsom in the home half of the third.

But ECU answered with a run in the fourth and then erupted for four scores in the fifth for an 8-1 cushion. Harrington struck again in the fifth--this time with a two-run double to the left center gap.

The Tigers got an RBI-double from Tyler Huelsing, who was 2-for-4 on the night and drove in two of the Tigers' three runs, to plate a run in the sixth, but again the Pirates responded. However, this answerback inning came with five runs that all but sealed the contest at 13-2. A grand slam by Brandon Henderson was the big blow in the seventh. Henderson went 4-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored.

ECU tacked on three more runs in the eighth and another in the ninth for the 17-3 final.

Bristow allowed two runs on two hits to pick up his eighth win of the year. Scott McGregor was saddled with the loss after surrendering seven runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings of work.

The two teams will square off in the series finale on Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. While the game is the regular season finale for East Carolina, it serves as the final game of the season for Memphis.