Pirates drop rubber match to Rice Owls

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 27, 2006 2:01 PM

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HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Joe Savery pitched eight innings of shutout ball against East Carolina as Rice defeated the Pirates 5-0 in game three of the Conference USA opening series for both schools at Reckling Park in Houston.

Rice (20-8) jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh when Tyler Henley's single to right field off Taylor scored Danny Lehmann from second to give the Owls a 1-0 lead.

ECU (17-9) starter Brody Taylor suffered his the first loss of his career in Pirate uniform, despite allowing just one run in 61/3 innings on five hits. Kevin Rhodes came in to relieve Taylor in the bottom of the seventh giving up three hits and two runs. Six different Pirate batters collected hits on the day with Jaime Ray extending his hitting streak to six games with his double in the eighth inning.

Savery improved to 4-1 on the season allowing six hits with five strike outs and two walks before giving way to Bryce Cox, who pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the win. Jordan Dodson and Henley led the Owls bats with two hits each, while Chad Lembeck collected a pair of RBIs.

The Owls added another run in the seventh inning on Travis Reagan's ground out to third. Pirate first baseman Adam Witter threw the ball back to third trying for a double-play, but the Dale Mollehauer was unable to come up with the scoop and Henly scored plating the second run.

The Pirates had a great chance to score in the top of the first when Mollenhauer reach first on a drag but. He then advanced to third on a Witter single, but Witter was thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw ending the inning.

Rice pushed across three more runs in the bottom of the eighth on Lembeck's bases loaded double to left field putting the Owl's up 5-0.

The Pirates will be back in action Wednesday when they hit the road to face in-state rival N.C. State at Doak Field with a 7 p.m. start scheduled.

Georgia Tech 3, UNC 2

ATLANTA -- Pinch hitter Wall Crancer's RBI groundout drove in the go-ahead run in a two-run sixth-inning rally that carried Georgia Tech to a 3-2 victory over North Carolina on Sunday in the rubber game of their three game series.

Meanwhile, four Georgia Tech (20-4, 5-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) combined on a seven hitter, with three relievers blanking the Tar Heels (20-5, 5-4) over the final 32/3 innings.

Clemson 6, N.C. State 2

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Clemson starter Stephen Faris pitched eight scoreless innings to lead Clemson to a 6-2 win over North Carolina State on Sunday.

Tyler Colvin was 3-for-3 with two RBIs for the Tigers (16-6, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who swept the three-game series from the Wolfpack (21-8, 5-4 ACC).

Aaron Bates was 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for N.C. State

Clemson led 1-0 going into the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Herman Demmink grounded to short, but Bates dropped the throw at first base and two runs scored.

The Tigers scored again in the fifth, sixth and eight to take a 6-0 lead.

In the ninth, Bates' homer off Clemson reliever Steve Richard with one out cut the Tigers lead to 6-2. The Wolfpack would get one more runner on, but Richard got the final two outs to end the game.

Faris (2-0) allowed four hits and struck out five to get the win.

N.C. State starter Andrew Brackman (0-2) allowed eight hits and four runs, two of them earned, striking out five and walking four to pick up the loss.

Florida St. 15, Duke 5

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State completed a three-game sweep of Duke winning 15-5 on Sunday in a game where three Florida State players hit home runs. Florida State (25-2, 8-1) scored six runs in the first inning on the way to their 30th straight win. The team also had a season-high 19 hits. Duke (8-21, 1-8) managed only seven hits.

Michael Hyde (5-0) got the win for Florida State. Jonathan Anderson (1-3) took the loss for Duke.

Virginia 10, Wake Forest 2

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Starter Mike Ballard tossed an eight-hit complete game, allowing just one earned run, to lead Virginia to a 10-2 win over Wake Forest on Sunday.

Ballard (4-1), a senior, struck out eight and did not issue any walks in his first career complete game.

Virginia (22-5, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) exploded early, scoring on an RBI single by Sean Doolittle, a three-run homer by David Adams and a solo by Brandon Guyer to go up 5-0 before Wake Forest starter Tyler Smith was able to register an out.

From AP reports, college releases