University of North Carolina Athletics
NCAA Baseball Regional: East Carolina 9, Western Carolina 8
June 1, 2007 | Baseball
June 1, 2007
By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) _ East Carolina always seems to find a way to beat Western Carolina. This time it was Jamie Ray's turn to come through in the clutch and cap the Pirates' latest comeback win.
Ray's bases-loaded single in the eighth inning scored the go-ahead run, helping East Carolina rally from an early four-run deficit and beat the Catamounts 9-8 on Friday in the Chapel Hill Regional.
"We were down by four there for a while, and we just never gave up," Ray said. "We never give up until the last out is recorded, and anything can happen and we showed today that that was possible."
Ray's sharp grounder up the middle off closer Greg Holland scored Harrison Eldridge and Ryan Wood, gave the Pirates their first lead and capped their rally after trailing 8-4.
East Carolina improved to 14-1 all-time against the Catamounts and has won 13 straight since Western Carolina's lone victory 30 years ago.
"Once you (rally to win), and we've done that several times this year, there's never a sense" that a game is over, coach Billy Godwin said. "Last year, we had trouble keeping the lead and got beat a lot late in games. We kind of felt a little snakebitten. ... This year's the exact opposite."
Corey Kemp's pinch-hit three-run homer in the sixth started the comeback and made it 8-7. Ryan Tousley also homered and had two RBIs for East Carolina (40-21), which will meet the Jacksonville-North Carolina winner Saturday night in the four-team double-elimination NCAA regional.
"It's do or die at this point, so we're not going to save any pitching or anything like that," coach Todd Raleigh said. "It's a tournament, it's tough and there are no bad teams at this point."
Southern Conference player of the year Kenny Smith had three hits and two RBIs, and Jonathan Greene also drove in two runs for the Catamounts (40-19), who will face the Jacksonville-North Carolina loser Saturday in an elimination game.
"It seemed like we were definitely on our game today with the sticks," Smith said.
Holland (4-4), who came on in the seventh, allowed two runs and three hits in 1 2-3 innings and took his second straight loss for the Catamounts.
Jason Neitz (5-2) came on in the seventh inning and worked 1 2-3 shutout innings for his first victory since April 13. Closer Shane Mathews pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save.
Early on, it seemed Western Carolina would cruise in the winners' bracket after the Catamounts pounced on Pirates starter T.J. Hose right away, taking a 3-0 lead in the first on Smith's RBI single, a hit batter with the bases loaded and a run-scoring double play.
East Carolina's Stephen Batts extended his hitting streak to 27 games _ one shy of Steve Sides' school record _ with a first-inning single, then came around to score the Pirates' first run on Tousley's double.
Hose (6-6) exited in the third after allowing a leadoff double to Smith, and was touched up for five runs on six hits.
"That happens _ he didn't have good stuff today, and he couldn't spot his fastball," Godwin said. "Those guys can hit."
Tousley's solo shot, his team-leading 11th, came off Sexton and cleared the fence in the short power alley in right-center field to pull East Carolina within 5-4 in the fifth. Western Carolina countered with three runs in the sixth to seemingly take command before the Pirates staged the decisive rally.
Both teams have been regulars in the postseason, with the Catamounts making their 11th NCAA appearance and first since 2003 and East Carolina in the field of 64 for the 22nd time. The Pirates played in seven straight regionals from 1999-2005 but were left out last year.
This rgional opener was a rematch of a regular-season meeting in March, won 3-2 by East Carolina. That matchup was part of the LeClair Classic, which honored the memory of Keith LeClair, who played and coached at Western Carolina before building East Carolina into a powerhouse. LeClair died last July after a five-year struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
