By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — East Carolina certainly made its hits count.
The No. 26 Pirates scored in each inning they collected a hit, helping to push ECU to a 6-3 win over the UAB Blazers in Friday’s Conference USA action. The victory, coming in front of 3,038 fans at Clark-LeClair Stadium, was the fourth straight for the Pirates.
The Pirates (22-12, 4-3 C-USA), playing small ball with several bunts and sacrifices, finished with just six hits off UAB starter Mitch Kloskowski (3-3), but each seemed to come in a clutch situation.
“That was big,” ECU coach Billy Godwin said of the hitting. “Our bunting game (which the team worked on Thursday) was very good and we moved some runners. We did a good job of getting some timely hits against a good club.
“Little things win games. I tell (the players) that we have to be better at the little things than anybody else in the country.”
It was ECU’s first Friday night win since a 30-4 pasting of N.C. Central on March 26. The Pirates dropped conference series openers to Tulane and Memphis in the previous two weeks.
“It’s been a while since we had a Friday night win,” Godwin said. “Now we can’t be complacent. We have to come out (today) and look to win the series. I think that’s critical.”
The Blazers (20-13, 5-5 C-USA) couldn’t do much off ECU starter Zach Woods (5-1), reliever Shawn Armstrong and closer Seth Simmons. The ECU pitchers combined to strike out 11 UAB batters.
The Pirates used a pair of doubles and some textbook sacrificing to take the lead in the second. John Wooten led off with a double. Devin Harris followed with an RBI double into left. A sacrifice by Philip Clark moved Harris to third, and Cam Freeman’s sac fly scored Harris for a 2-1 lead.
Freeman and Corey Thompson collected RBI singles in the fifth to give the Pirates a 4-1 advantage. Clark drew a walk to start the fifth, stole second and raced home on Freeman’s single up the middle. Jared Avchen moved Freeman to second. After Trent Whitehead walked, Thompson’s poke into center scored Freeman.
“We were focused on winning every inning,” Freeman said. “We were just playing for a run every inning.”
UAB took advantage of an ECU error to pull within 4-2 in the seventh, chasing Woods (5-1) in the process. Woods had been cruising, allowing only John Frost’s RBI double in the first inning prior to the seventh.
Harry Clark reached on the Pirate error. Jamal Austin’s (2-4, RBI) double scored Clark. That ended the night for Woods (2 runs, 1 earned, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts, 2 walks in 6 1/3 innings), who was solid once again.
It seems Woods has solidified himself as the Friday night starter.
“You have to give (Woods) all the credit,” Godwin said. “He went out and did it against some good teams. All we ask our starting pitching to do is get us deep in the game and give us a chance to win, and he’s done that every time he’s been out.”
Even Woods seems a bit surprised that he’s become the ace of the Pirates.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be out here starting Friday nights for a great baseball team,” Woods said. “I’m happy I am, and I’m happy we’re winning.”
Whitehead’s RBI double in the bottom of the seventh pushed the lead back to three runs, 5-2. Avchen reached on a two-out single. Whitehead, a former standout at Washington High School, followed by lacing a 3-2 pitch into the corner in left field, easily scoring Avchen.
“That was big,” Whitehead said of the hit. “We responded back. Coach Godwin always preaches that when we’re ahead and a team starts to come back, make a statement and put some runs up. That was huge and I thought it kept the game in our control.”
Austin Homan’s sac fly made it 6-2 in the eighth.
The Blazers scored once in the ninth before Simmons, who fanned three, closed it out.
The teams meet again at 5 p.m. today. Seth Maness (6-2) will start for ECU and UAB will counter with Beau Pender (4-1).
Pirate southpaw Kevin Brandt (3-4) gets the nod for Sunday’s series finale, slated for a 10 a.m. start.