After a day filled with high-scoring games, host East Carolina and Tulane ended the first day of the 2007 Conference USA Baseball Tournament with a pitcher’s duel.
The game was still scoreless after five innings. A pair of singles opened the top of the sixth for the Green Wave, and the runners advanced thanks to a sacrifice bunt. Ty Wallace slapped a single into left field, pushing both runners across and giving Tulane a 2-0 lead. With the efforts of Tulane’s Shooter Hunt and ECU’s T.J. Hose on the mound, it appeared that the two-run lead could be enough to clinch the game for the Green Wave.
ECU’s bats awoke in the seventh. Held to just one hit up to that time, the Pirates collected and single and a walk to set the stage for leadoff hitter Harrison Eldridge. He cleared the fence in right field for a three-run shot, giving East Carolina the lead for good. A Jamie Ray single in the eighth scored Stephen Batts from second, giving the Pirates their final 4-2 advantage.
The Pirates will face Southern Miss at 7:30 p.m. EDT Thursday. Tulane will take on UAB at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in an elimination contest.
