By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — The never-quit No. 16 East Carolina Pirates had a chance to rally for a victory Friday night, but the Monmouth Hawks held on for an 11-9 victory.
John Wooten stepped to the plate with the bases loaded at Clark-LeClair Stadium, coming after ECU (9-8) had already tacked on three runs in the bottom of the ninth against the Hawks (3-4), but the freshman flew out to left to end the game. The Pirates have now dropped two straight and five of their last seven.
“Sure, I’m worried,” ECU coach Billy Godwin said. “This isn’t typical. We’re fighting the game right now.
“It’s got to come from within. It’s got to come from inside that locker room.
“It’s just really frustrating right now. We have to get our attitude right and go out and compete at a higher level. We’re just not playing good baseball right now.”
The loss, coming in front of 3,057 fans, spoiled some solid individual performances by the Pirates. Devin Harris (3-for-5) belted two home runs, a double and drove in three. Jared Avchen (3-for-5) homered twice, doubled, drove in four and scored three times. Trent Whitehead (2-for-4) snapped an 0-for-13 slump by banging out a pair of hits.
The Pirates had their chances, but stranded 13 base runners. That included leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and ninth innings.
“We need to do a better job early in the game getting runs across,” Harris said. “We have to do a better job with runners in scoring position.”
Monmouth used a six-run sixth inning to take the lead for good. The ECU pitching staff allowed 12 hits, with half of them going for extra bases, including five doubles.
Despite the loss, Whitehead is confident his Pirates can regroup.
“Hopefully, we can get things going,” Whitehead said. “We just have to get some swagger back to us. We need to get that confidence.”
Trailing 11-6 entering the ninth, Avchen blasted a three-run homer to pull the Pirates within two. Whitehead drew a walk, Dustin Harrington beat out an infield hit and Kyle Roller walked with two outs. But Neil Harm got Wooten to fly out to end the game.
Mike Casale (2-for-3, 3 runs) and Kyle O’Neill (2-for-5) had RBI-doubles in the second for a 2-0 Monmouth lead.
Harris belted a two-run homer and Zach Wright had an RBI-double in the bottom half to give ECU a 3-2 advantage.
That’s all Monmouth starter Nick Meyers (2-0) would allow in his five innings of work. He gave up six hits while striking out five and walking four.
Monmouth recaptured the lead with a six-run sixth, chasing ECU starter Kevin Brandt (4 runs, 5 hits, 7 strikeouts, 2 walks in 5 1/3 innings) in the process. The Hawks took an 8-3 lead after batting around and collecting four hits.
Jamie Rosencrantz (2-for-5) tied the game 3-3 with a leadoff shot, his second of the year, off Brandt (1-2). Nick Pulsonetti (1-fo4-4, 3 RBIs) hit a two-run double, Josh Boyd slapped a two-run single and Ryan Terry (2-for-5) added an RBI-single — all of ECU reliever Sthil Sowers (5 runs, 5 hits in 2 innings).
Avchen’s two-out solo shot in the bottom of the sixth made it 8-4.
Pulsonetti’s sac fly in the eighth pushed the lead back to five runs, 9-4.
ECU pulled within 9-6 in the bottom of the inning. Harris hit his second homer of the game and fourth of the year, and Roller had an RBI-single.
Matt McEndy’s two-run single in the ninth off Shawn Armstrong (2 runs, 2 hits in 1 2/3 innings) pushed the lead to 11-6.
The teams resume the series at 3 p.m. today. Seth Maness (2-2, 4.07 ERA) will start for the Pirates and Kyle Breese (0-0, 1.00 ERA) will throw for Monmouth.
The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.