By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — East Carolina made sure there wouldn’t be any late-game dramatics from Monmouth (N.J.) this time out.
The Pirates jumped early and often on the Hawks en route to an 11-2 clubbing on a sunny Saturday afternoon in front of 3,454 fans at Clark-LeClair Stadium. Monmouth (1-1) used a two-out rally to top the Pirates in Friday’s series opener.
ECU (2-4), which snapped a three-game skid, banged out 10 hits in the win. Six of those went for extra bases, including a double and triple by junior Drew Schieber.
Brandon Henderson homered, doubled, drove in two and scored three times, while Ryan Wood, Kyle Roller and Stephen Batts drove in two apiece.
ECU starter Seth Maness (1-0) earned his first college win.
The freshman toiled 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits. Maness struck out seven and hit four batters in his second career start. (The Pirates tied a club record by plunking six batters.)
Roller’s two-run double in the first gave the Pirates the early lead. Harrison Eldridge, who walked three times and swiped three bases, drew a leadoff walk. One out later, Batts drew a walk to get two aboard. Roller followed by lacing a double into the right-center field gap that scored both runners for a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates made it 4-0 in the second. Henderson was hit by a pitch and freshman Trent Whitehead, a former Washington Pam Pack star who made his first college start, drew a walk.
That ended the day for Monmouth starter Ryan Buch (0-1), who had trouble with his command. The sophomore, who lasted just one inning, allowed four runs on one hit, striking out one, walking five and hitting another.
After Eldridge moved the runners over, Wood’s single into right scored Henderson. Whitehead raced home from third on a short sac fly into right by Batts.
The Hawks got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Brett Holland, who had led off with a single, scored when Shawn Teters hit into a double play to make it a 4-1 game.
ECU responded with three runs in its half of the third. Corey Kemp’s leadoff double ignited the charge. Schieber slapped an RBI-single two batters later for a 5-1 lead.
A Henderson double and a walk to pinch-hitter Jonathan Ratledge, who batted for Whitehead, loaded the bases. Eldridge spanked an RBI-single and Wood hit a sac fly to score another run to push ECU’s lead to 7-1.
Teters hit a run-scoring single in the fifth to pull Monmouth within 7-2.
Henderson blasted a two-run homer into The Jungle, his second of the season, and Batts had an RBI-single to highlight a four-run fifth, giving the Pirates an 11-2 advantage.
Much of the damage came off Monmouth reliever Kyle Breese (seven runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings).
Brad Mincey and Brett Butts kept Monmouth off the scoreboard over the final four innings. Mincey pitched 2 2/3 innings out of the bullpen for the Pirates. The freshman gave up three hits and struck out one, while Butts pitched a scoreless ninth.
The teams close out the series with today’s 1 p.m. game. Justin Bristow (0-0) will get the start for the Pirates, while Matt Marc-Aurele (0-0) will start for Monmouth.
ECU will play at Old Dominion on Tuesday and at VCU on Wednesday before hosting the Keith LeClair Classic next week.
Monmouth 001 010 000 – 2 8 0
East Carolina 223 040 00x – 11 10 1
WP: Seth Maness (1-0); LP: Ryan Buch (0-1)
Hitters: M – Kyle Higgins 3-5, Tim McEndy 1-1, John Dennis 1-2, Mike Casale 1-3, Brett Holland 1-3, Shawn Teters 1-5 (RBI); ECU – Drew Schieber 3-4 (3B, 2B, RBI), Brandon Henderson 2-3 (HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 runs), Harrison Eldridge 1-1 (RBI, 3 steals), Stephen Batts 1-2 (2 RBI), Ryan Wood 1-3 (2 RBI), Corey Kemp 1-3 (2B), Kyle Roller 1-4 (2B, 2 RBI).