Sasser collects mound victory as ECU sweeps series from UAB

Published in Sports on May 15, 2006 2:01 PM

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GREENVILLE -- For the second straight day, Adam Witter hammered two home runs, while Jake Smith and Adam Hodges also went yard as the Pirates completed the series sweep of UAB Sunday afternoon 12-2 at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Due to Conference USA's 10-run rule on Sunday's the game was halted after seven innings of play.

Witter continued his hot bat smacking his third home run in two days in the bottom of the first to highlight an ECU four-run inning. Smith singled home Harrison Eldridge to plate the games first run. After Witter's two-run bomb to right field, that scored Smith, Ryan Tousley laced a double to right-center scoring Jay Mattox to close the inning at 4-0.

Dustin Sasser improved to 5-6 after picking up his first win since March 18 when the Pirates defeated Marist 7-0. He allowed just one hit over five innings while tying a career-high in strikeouts with seven. The only time Sasser was in trouble came in the top of the second after he walked Phillip Bell and Ryne Lovdahl before hitting J.R. Bond to load the bases. He then struck out the side to end the Blazers threat. Jason Neitz and Scott Andrews each worked an inning of relief to preserve the win.

Witter finished the game going 2-for-3 with two homers, three RBIs and two runs scored. Smith also added two hits in two at-bats with a bomb and three RBI before being pulled in the third inning. Seven other Pirates collected hits on the afternoon while Tousley, Stephen Batts, Adam Hodges and Brandon Henderson each knocked in runs.

Drew Murray fell to 2-5 on the year after lasting just one inning. He gave up nine runs (eight earned) on six hits while striking out one. Grant Addison tossed one inning in relief allowing three runs on three hits and Kasey Croft finished the game working four innings while giving up just two hits.

Lovdahl, who broke up Sasser's no-hitter in the top of the fourth, went 1-for-2 from the plate with one RBI. Donny Muth had one of the other three hits and knocked in a run in the top of the seventh.

The Pirates put up seven-spot in the bottom of the second to extend its lead to 11-0. Smith launched his tenth home run of the season, a two-run shot, scoring Dale Mollenhauer. Witter made it back-to-back homers with his second of the day a solo shot to dead centerfield. Batts singled home Ryan Wood from third and Tousley scored on Henderson's sacrifice fly to end the scoring.

Hodges cranked his first home run as a Pirate in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 12-0.

UAB plated its only runs in the top of the seventh when Muth singled home Steven Turner and Lovdahl drove in Jorge Gutierrez on a sacrifice fly to make the game 12-2.

Virginia 9, North Carolina 2

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Sean Doolittle drove in four runs to lead Virginia to a 9-2 win over North Carolina on Sunday.

Reid Fronk put North Carolina (41-11, 19-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) on the board first when Kyle Shelton doubled to right center in the second inning. The Cavaliers (41-11, 18-9) tied the game at 1-all when Tim Henry scored on a single by Doolittle to right field.

Virginia took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a bunt by Henry that allowed Patrick Wingfield to score.

Mike Ballard (7-2) allowed both Tar Heel runs on seven hits in more than six innings for the win.

Daniel Bard (6-3) took the loss for the Tar Heels, allowing three runs on five hits in less than four innings.

Wake Forest 8, Miami 5

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Brett Linnenkohl had two hits and three RBIs in Wake Forest's 8-5 win over Miami Sunday.

Wake Forest (33-17, 16-10 ACC) started strong with six runs in the top of the first inning, and Miami (34-17, 16-11) could not catch up. Both teams ended with 10 hits.

Wake Forest's Austin Jones had three RBIs and one hit. Andy Goff had two hits and one RBI, and Evan Ocheltree had two hits.

Miami's Jemile Weeks had four hits, and Eddy Rodriguez had two hits and one RBI.

The winning pitcher was Wake Forest's Justin Keadle (5-2), who gave up seven hits and four earned runs in seven innings. Ben Hunter earned his 14th save, giving up three hits and no runs during the last two innings of the game.

Miami's Ricky Orta (2-2) got the loss.

Georgia Tech 18, Duke 6

ATLANTA -- Whit Robbins homered and drove in five runs to lead Georgia Tech to an 18-6 victory over Duke on Sunday for a sweep of their three-game series.

The Yellow Jackets (39-13, 17-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their winning streak over the Blue Devils (14-39, 6-24) to 19 games in a row.

Robbins had three hits, including his 12th home run, and Mike Trapani, Matt Wieters, Steven Blackwood and Jeff Kindel each drove in two runs.

Eleven different Jackets had at least one hit as Tech outhit the Devils 18-8.

Brad Rulon (4-0) got the victory in relief, working 12/3 scoreless innings. The loss went to Andrew Wolcott (1-5), a reliever who allowed four runs in two innings.

Tech broke a 6-6 tie with nine runs in the sixth inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and getting help from three Duke errors that led to seven unearned runs.

Robbins had a triple and sacrifice fly in the inning and Kindel had a two-run double.

Duke took a 5-3 lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Matt Williams, a run-scoring double by Jonathan Nicolla and a squeeze bunt by Daniel Palmer.

NCSU-VaTech

baseball canceled

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The final game of a three-game series between Virginia Tech and N.C. State was canceled Sunday due to foul weather.

The Atlantic Coast Conference game was delayed nearly three hours by rain, then was halted in the second inning due to lightning. It will not be rescheduled.

The Wolfpack won the first game of the series 21-3 on Friday, while the Hokies won Saturday's game 7-6.