By ECU Sports Information

GREENVILLE č Jack Reinheimer’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth lifted East Carolina (9-3) to a 5-4 win over High Point (7-7) Wednesday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

With the scored knotted a four in the bottom of the ninth, Trent Whitehead doubled to left center for this third hit of the contest (all doubles) setting up Reinheimer’s first career walk-off hit. Reinheimer, who is batting .286 on the season, took a 3-1 offering from Ryan Retz to left field scoring Whitehead for the game-winning run.

Brad Mincey (2-0) recorded his second win out of the bullpen in five days, tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with a strikeout and a walk. ECU starter Shawn Armstrong worked 5.0 solid innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits with five punch outs and three walks. Freshman Austin Chrismon made his second appearance out of the bullpen surrendering a run (unearned) on one hit with a strikeout. Left-hander Patrick Somers made his second relief appearance of the year facing one batter before Mincey set down the Panthers for the win.

Retz (0-1) suffered his first loss of the season allowing one run on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. Drew Dades was touched for four runs (all earned) on eight hits with a walk and strikeout in his second career start. Spencer Andrews gave up a hit in one inning of relief before turning the game over to Retz.

High Point jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first frame. Retz doubled to right center with two outs and crossed home on Steve Antolik’s single back up the middle for his 18th RBI of the year.

Back-to-back RBI singles from Mike Mercurio and Sal Pezzino staked the Panthers to a 3-0 lead in the second frame. Drew Geissinger walked to start the stanza then moved into scoring position on a passed ball.

A Scott Glover ground out pushed Geissinger to third and Preston Packrall put runners on the corners when Armstrong issued his second free pass of the frame. Mercurio reached on an infield single deep to short scoring Geissinger and Pezzino followed with a single to right field scoring Packrall from second base.

Whitehead and Corey Thompson pulled the Pirates within one, 3-2, in the third. Tim Younger single to right and raced home on Whitehead’s first double of the game. After Drew Reynolds ground out to third, Thompson followed with another RBI double scoring Whitehead.

The score remained 3-2 until High Point scrapped across a run in the top of the seventh. Mercurio, who reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to second on the first of two ECU errors in the inning when Drew Reynolds couldn’t handle a grounder off the bat of Pezzino. Retz reached on the second error, this time errant throw by Thompson, scoring Mercurio.

But the Pirates responded in the bottom of the frame scoring a pair of runs to tie the game at four. Clark reached on a fielder’s choice and landed on second on Younger’s third base hit of the game, a single to right center. Whitehead cleared the bases with a double down the left field line pushing across Clark and Younger.

Offensively the Pirates pounded out 12 hits, their fifth double-digit performance of the year, with Whitehead and Younger leading the squad with three hits each.

The Pirates will be back in action this weekend when they host the Eighth Annual Keith LeClair Classic starting Friday, March 11. ECU will face Monmouth in the opener, followed by Rutgers (March 12) and Liberty (March 13). First pitch for Friday is scheduled for 5 p.m. (ET).