Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
East Carolina
ECU Tops Baseball, 11-4
4/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2010
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Victor Gomez notched his second career multi-home run game, but East Carolina rallied scoring at least one run from the third inning on to take game one of the series, 11-4, on Friday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The loss drops Marshall to 20-23 overall and 9-7 against Conference USA opponents, while ECU now sits at 26-17, 7-6 C-USA.
V. Gomez ended the night with a pair of solo homers (12,13) in a 2-for-4 night the dish for the Herd. It marked his second career multi-homer game, the last coming at Rice on April 19, 2009.
James Lavinskas finished with a 2-for-4 showing, including his second career long ball and Josh Valle chipped in with a RBI single.
ECU hurler Zach Woods (6-2) was electric on the mound. The righty fired the first 8.0 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with eight strikeouts to earn the victory.
Woods sent the Herd down in order in the first frame. MU would not be so kind to the Friday night starter an inning later. V. Gomez, the school's all-time leader in homers, launched a solo blast to right to start the rally. Designated hitter Lavinskas followed by belting a solo shot of his own to nearly the exact same spot in right, marking the third time the Herd has hit back-to-back homers on the season. Both round trippers came on 1-2 pitches, as the visitors took the 2-0 lead.
The Pirates were kept off the scoreboard by Ian Kadish (2-4) until the bottom of the third. With two outs Corey Thompson reached out and slapped a two-out RBI double over the first base bag, breaking the Herd advantage in half.
In the fourth, ECU strung together three-consecutive singles, including a RBI base knock from Devin Harris. Kadish escaped without further damage with the score tied.
ECU touched home once in the fifth, twice in the sixth and two more times in the seventh to hold a five-run cushion heading into the last two frames of the night.
Trailing 7-2, the Herd shrunk the deficit to four, when Valle knocked in Isaac Ballou with a two-out RBI single through the right side of the infield.
After the home team tallied four more runs in the eighth, V. Gomez smoked his second homer of the night to round out the scoring.
Thompson led the Pirates offense, going 4-for-5, including two doubles, a homer, three runs scored and three RBI.
MU will look to even the series with the second game slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Game Notes: V. Gomez laced career homers No. 41 and 42ââ'¬Â¦Lavinskas has hit a homer in two of the three times the Herd has registered back-to-back homers...LHP Kyle Blank made his team-high 26th appearanceââ'¬Â¦Valle is now 10th all-time in RBI at MU (111).
