East Carolina Downs NC State Baseball, 7-2

Wednesday, May 12

Kinston, N.C.

7:00 PM

NC State

29-19

East Carolina

43-7

NC State

East Carolina

5/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 12, 2004

Final Stats

KINSTON, N.C. - Reliever Kevin Rhodes pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings, and Darryl Lawhorn and Jaime Paige had two hits and an RBI apiece to lead East Carolina past NC State 7-2 Wednesday night at Grainger Stadium. The Pirates, 43-7, won for the fifth time in a row and the 24th time in their last 25 games. The Wolfpack which dropped to 29-19, lost for the seventh time in its last nine games.

Rhodes (5-1) allowed two hits, walked two and struck out one. NC State starter Phillip Davidson (4-3) allowed five runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss. He walked three and struck out one.

The Pirates struck suddenly in the bottom of the second inning, all after Davidson retired the first two batters of the inning. Drew Cosantanzo walked, and swiped second on a delayed steal. On the next pitch, Mark Minicozzi drilled a two-run home run to straightaway center field. Davidson nicked Jake Smith with his next pitch, and Billy Richardson beat out a grounder to third base for a single. Paige followed with a sharp grounder through the hole on the right side of the infield, moving Richardson to third and driving Smith home with the third run of the inning. Ryan Jones flied to left field to end the inning.

ECU came right back in the bottom of the third, scoring two more runs and driving Davidson from the game. Trevor Lawhorn struck out to lead off the inning, but Darryl Lawhorn and Ryan Norwood walked to put runners on first and second. Costanzano lined a single up the middle to score Lawhorn, and Minicozzi grounded into a force play. Smith hit a smash off the glove of third baseman Dustin Knight for an RBI infield single, giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead after three innings.

The Wolfpack scored its two runs in the top of the fourth on a hit, three walks, a hit batter and a force play. Matt Camp led off and chopped a single over the third baseman's head, and went to second when Paige misplayed the ball in left field for an error. Jason St. Julien and David Hicks walked to load the bases, and Rhodes came in to pitch for East Carolina in place of starter P.J. Connelly. Rhodes walked Mike Jensen to force in a run, and pinch-hitter Lee Mezistrano grounded into a force play to drive in the second run of the inning. Rhodes hit Eric Taylor with a pitch to load the bases again, but Jake Muyco struck out swinging and Bryan Kinneberg flied to left to end the threat.

ECU picked up a disputed run in the bottom of the fifth. Darryl Lawhorn led off and singled to left, and Ryan Norwood doubled to right-center to put runners on second and third with none out. Reliever Daniel Caldwell struck out Cosantanzo for the first out. On the 0-2 pitch to Minicozi, the ball appeared to hit the bat and caromed to the backstop. The pitch was called a ball, and a passed ball on Muyco, allowing Lawhorn to score from third. Clearly believing the ball hit the bat, Muyco made no effort to retrieve the ball. Miniocozzi, apparently thinking the same thing, made no attempt to get out of Lawhorn's way. Caldwell went on to strike out Minocozzi and Smith to end the threat, but the Pirates led 6-2.

With one down in the bottom of the sixth inning, Paige walked and stole second. With two down, Trevor Lawhorn walked, spelling the end of the night for Caldwell. Derek McKee came in and got Darryl Lawhorn to hit a pop fly to shallow left field, but the ball fell into no-man's land for an RBI double, giving the Pirates a 7-2 lead.