East Carolina's Woods shuts out Elon
By From staff reports
Published in Sports on March 31, 2010 1:46 PM
ECU
Sports Information
GREENVILLE -- Junior Zach Woods logged a career-best 15 strikeouts and Zach Wright smacked his third grand slam in the last five games, leading No. 23-ranked East Carolina to an 8-0 shutout over in-state rival Elon University on Tuesday evening.
Woods (4-1) struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced, including the side in the opening inning after permitting a lead-off single to Justin Hilt. Woods, who became just the second ECU hurler in the last 40 years to punch out 15 in a game, faced two batters over the minimum after the giving up the base knock to start the game.
He retired 10 consecutive Elon hitters from the fourth through seventh innings, and ran into trouble in the eighth. He yielded three hits in seven-plus innings and freshman Jake Harris preserved the shutout with 12/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Wright led the Pirate offense with two hits and four RBI on his way to setting a school record for grand slams in a season. Over the last five games, the Charles B. Aycock alum is batting .360 (9-for-25) with a team-best four home runs and 16 RBI. Wright has nine homers overall.
Kyle Roller (9 games), Dustin Harrington (7) and Philip Clark (6/career-best) extended their respective hit streaks. Corey Thompson's 11-game streak came to an end with a 0-for-2 performance that included three walks.
The Pirates (17-8 overall) put their eight-game win streak on the line at home tonight against in-state nemesis UNC Wilmington. First pitch is 6 p.m. at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.