ECU baseball team beats Duke again

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on March 1, 2006 2:27 PM

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GREENVILLE -- For the second time in a week, East Carolina beat Duke by double-digit runs as the Pirates dominated the Blue Devils, 17-4, at Clark-LeClair Stadium Tuesday afternoon. ECU scored two in the first, one in the third, five in the fourth and nine in the eighth to put the Blue Devils away.

Jake Smith, who was named C-USA Hitter of the Week on Monday for his 10 RBI performance last week, continued his torrid pace of driving in runners with a career-high six RBI in ECU's 13-run victory. Smith finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, and a grand slam.

Four other Pirates collected two hits as ECU (8-3) finished with 12 as a team. Jay Mattox finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a career-best four runs scored while Harrison Eldridge also finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs. Stephen Batts hit 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run while Brandon Henderson went 2-for-2 with a double, a homer, three RBI and two runs scored all as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. Chris Buss also tripled in an eighth-inning pinch-hit appearance, driving in two of ECU's nine eighth inning runs.

Brody Taylor picked up his first win since the 2004 season, tossing five shutout innings in his first start of the year. The senior left-hander gave up just four hits while walking two and striking out six. Mike Flye, Josh Dowdy and Michael Hill combined to throw the final four innings.