Sasser turns in solid effort ECU

Published in Sports on March 19, 2006 2:01 AM

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Courtesy ECU

Sports Information

GREENVILLE -- Dustin Sasser tossed a career-high 81/3 innings of scoreless ball en route to his fourth win of the season as the Pirates defeated Marist 7-0 Saturday afternoon at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Jake Smith's double to right-center field in the bottom of the first gave the Pirates (15-6) an early 2-0 lead and set the tone for the rest of the game. Jay Mattox led off the inning with a single up the middle followed by Dale Mollenhauer's double with no outs before Smith picked up his 28th and 29th RBI of the season. Adam Witter singled to right field to advance Smith to third and extend his hitting streak to seven games.

Jake Dean continued the Pirate scoring with his ground out to Kyle Meyer plating Smith. Sophomore Harrison Eldridge capped off the bottom of the first with his second home run of the season and series, a two-run bomb to right field, to extend the Pirate lead to 5-0.

Sasser allowed just three hits on the afternoon mowing down five Marist (4-9) batters, which tied a season-high, and allowed three walks. Freshman Michael Hill made his fourth appearance on the season when he came in to relieve Sasser in the bottom of the eighth for 2/3 innings of work.

At the plate, ECU banged out 12 hits getting two each from Mattox, Mollenhauer, Witter and Jamie Ray, who recorded his first multi-hit performance of the season. A trio of Pirates drove in two runs each on the day in Smith, Witter and Eldridge.

ECU and Marist will play the final game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon starting at 1 p.m.

Friday's game

ECU out-slugs

Marist

Five players with multiple hits and home runs by Dale Mollenhauer, Brandon Henderson and Harrison Eldridge led ECU to a 9-5 victory over Marist Friday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Eldridge's solo shot to left field in the sixth inning put the Pirates (14-6) up 3-2.

Carter Harrell, who came in to relieve starter T.J. Hose in the top of the fifth, improved his record to 3-0 on the season after working 12/3 innings. Hose allowed one run in 41/3 innings, while allowing four hits and striking out four.

ECU collected 14 hits on the night getting three from Jake Smith (3-for-5) and two each from Jay Mattox (2-for-4), Mollenhauer (2-for-5), Adam Witter (2-for-4) and Eldridge (2-for-5). Witter along with Jake Dean (1-for-3) each extended their hitting streaks to six games.