CUSA baseball tourney -- ECU takes out Louisville

Published in Sports on May 27, 2004 1:55 PM

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HOUSTON -- Conference USA pitcher of the year Greg Bunn scattered seven hits in a seven-inning stint as nationally-ranked East Carolina hammered Louisville 13-2 in opening-round tournament action Wednesday afternoon at Cougar Field.

The fourth-ranked Pirates set a new school record for wins (48), eclipsing the old mark of 47 set by the 2001 team. They continue play at 7:30 p.m. today against Houston.

Louisville, the No. 8 seed, opposed the Houston-TCU loser at 12:30 p.m. today.

Officials halted the contest after seven innings due to the conference's 10-run rule in tournament play.

The Cardinals' two runs came on two solo home runs -- one each by Ron Braun in the fourth inning and Chris Cates in the sixth. They threatened in the seventh with two runners on and only one out, but Bunn was able to get Mark Jurich and Cates to fly out and halt the potential rally.

Bunn is perfect in nine outings this season.

Louisville starter B.J. Rosenberg lasted just two innings after being tagged for nine earned runs on nine hits and falls to 2-5 on the season.

The Pirates jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first on back-to-back RBI doubles by Drew Costanzo and Ryan Norwood, who knocked in two.

Costanzo led off the Pirates' big inning with his second double of the game and later came around to score the game's fourth run on double by Mark Minicotti. John Poppert followed Minicotti with a three-run homer, then Norwood plated the last two runs of the inning with a single to right.

Overall, ECU registered six hits -- five for extra bases -- en route to its seven runs in the inning. Minicotti drove in Constanzo with a sacrifice fly for ECU's 13th and final run.