#20
EAST CAROLINA HALTS RAMS' WIN STREAK
box score
4-06-01
RICHMOND,
Va.. – East Carolina handed
Virginia Commonwealth its first home
defeat in nearly one full year as the
20th-ranked Pirates earned an 8-1 victory
over the Rams in Colonial Athletic
Association baseball Friday night at the
Diamond.
ECU sophomore lefthander Sam Narron
scattered five hits and walked none over
eight innings to improve to 6-1 on the
season, and classmate Neal Sears threw a
perfect ninth as the Pirate hurlers faced
just one batter over the minimum to snap
VCU's 22-game win streak in its home
park. Senior John Williamson and junior
Bryant Ward each went two-for-four with a
pair of runs batted in for ECU, which
improved to 28-7 overall and 7-0 in CAA
play. The Rams fell to 25-7 on the year
and 4-2 in the league and lost for just
the second time in their last 23 games.
The Pirates struck quickly in the first
inning as junior Warren Gaspar led off
the game with a triple in the right
center field gap and came home on a
single by Ward. Williamson then drove a
double to the right field wall two outs
later to plate senior Joseph Hastings for
a 2-0 ECU lead.
VCU cut the Pirates' margin in half in
the bottom of the fourth when junior
center fielder Matt Davis (Colonial
Heights, Va./Thomas Dale) opened with
a single and advanced to second on a
sacrifice by junior second baseman Brian
Gillespie (Grafton, W.Va./Potomac State
JC). Davis then stole third and
crossed the plate on a base hit by junior
shortstop Joshua Arteaga (Homestead,
Fla./Motlow State CC) to trim the ECU
lead to 2-1. Narron then retired 12 of
the next 13 VCU hitters over the
following four innings.
The Pirates scored another run in the
fifth on consecutive doubles by Clayton
McCullogh and Ryan Jones and extended
their advantage to 4-1 later in the
inning when Ward drove home Jones with an
infield grounder. ECU then put the game
out of reach with a three-run ninth
inning to earn the first win in The
Diamond by a visting team since Old
Dominion topped the Rams 3-1 on April 16,
2000.
VCU starter Bo Acors (Mechanicsville,
Va./Atlee) suffered his first loss
after six straight wins to open the
season. The junior righthander allowed
five earned runs and seven hits in eight
innings of work. Davis finished
two-for-four at the plate and hit safely
for the 14th consecutive game in the
loss.
The two teams will continue their crucial
CAA showdown tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.
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