Sports
 

Cougars legally Pirated by ECU

by Tom Carpenter
The Daily Cougar

When the smoke cleared at Harrington Field in Greenville, N.C., the boys of summer were last seen bobbing in the flotsam of a three-game sweep at the hands of the East Carolina Pirates. 

In a battle royal that featured two come-from-behind wins by the Pirates, ECU snapped the Cougars seven-game win streak in the first game and increased their own 16-game win streak to a school-record 19 consecutive victories with the series sweep, the third straight series win by the Pirates.

Nathan Lindstrom/The Daily Cougar 

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The Cougars clawed back to within 5-2 in the third inning on five consecutive singles by sophomores Brett Logan, Matt Farrington and Travis Tully, junior Rob Johnson and senior Thanos Papavasiliou. UH inched closer at 5-3 in the fourth when senior Nick Bott doubled and Farrington singled him home.

But the Cougars were held scoreless the rest of the way until Bott smashed a two-run homer in the ninth to make the final score 9-5. Tully extended his team-high hitting streak to 14 games. He tied Stuart Musslewhite's streak that ended last weekend at 14 against Cincinnati. 

ECU pitcher Shane Mathews stayed unbeaten at 6-0 by holding the Cougars to seven hits and three runs over seven innings.

In the 5-3 Pirate win Saturday, ECU used the long ball to score three runs in the eighth to secure the win.

Home runs by Trevor Lawhorn and Ryan Norwood paved the way for the Pirate victory after the Cougars had forged into the lead in the top of the inning when junior Rob Johnson drove in Tully from third. It was the Cougars' only lead of the day.

The opening game was an electric 11-10 come-from-behind victory by the Pirates that set the tone for the series. Both teams battled valiantly as the lead changed hands five times before an error, a fielder's choice and a single in the bottom of the ninth sunk the Cougars.

Papavasiliou poked his fourth homer of the year to go along with his season- and career-high five RBIs, and Tully rapped three hits to keep his hitting streak alive. Senior Brandon Roznovsky fell to 1-3 on the season when the Pirates tagged him for a run in the bottom of the ninth.

It marked only the third time the Cougars (21-25, 12-9) were swept in a series since UH joined C-USA in 1997. Charlotte swept the Cougars in 1998 and Tulane duplicated the feat in 2003.

The Cougars swing back into action at 7 p.m. Friday against Memphis at Cougar Field.

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