Box Score Baseball Falls at East Carolina 10-3

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East Carolina University (29-20) scored three runs apiece in the seventh and eighth innings to break open a one-run gave and give the Pirates a 10-3 win over the Coastal Carolina University baseball team (22-25) May 10 in Greenville, N.C.   The Pirates got on the board in the bottom of the first.  Harrison Eldridge led off the frame with a single and quickly moved to third on a single up the middle by Dale Mollenhauer.  Eldridge scored as Jake Smith hit into a double play.   Coastal answered in the third inning, plating two runs.  Freshman Tyler Bortnick (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) walked with one out.  He scored on a triple from junior Chris Raber (Coplay, Pa./Whitehall).  Raber scored on an infield single by junior Adam Vrable (Bay City, Mich./Grand Rapids C.C.).  Coastal loaded the bases on a single from junior John Mariotti (Toronto, Ontario/Gulf Coast C.C.) and a walk to sophomore Tommy Baldridge (Fort Mill, S.C./Fort Mill), but ECU reliever Mike Flye got freshman David Sappelt (Saxapahaw, N.C./Graham) to ground out to end the threat.
East Carolina retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs with two outs.  Brandon Henderson reached on an error by Vrable.  He scored as Jay Mattox tripled in the left field gap.  Stephen Batts then chopped a single to right field, scoring Mattox and giving the Pirates a 3-2 advantage.   Coastal tied the game in the sixth.  Baldridge led off the inning with a hustle double to right field.  He came home on a double down the left field line by sophomore Derek Martin (Barnwell, S.C./Barnwell).  East Carolina retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Adam Witter singled, moved to second on a sacrifice by Ryan Wood and scored on a single from Henderson.   The Pirates broke the game open in the seventh.  Batts led off the inning with a rocket infield single off of Bortnick.  He moved to second on a sacrifice by Ryan Tousley.  Eldridge doubled to left center to put runners on second and third.  Junior Kevin Marrie (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) intentionally walked Mollenhauer to load the bases.  Smith then hit a grounder to third that was not handled by Martin, allowing Batts to score.  After Marrie struck out Witter, Wood singled to score Eldridge and Mollenhauer, making it 7-3 ECU.   In the eighth, ECU added three runs on an run-scoring single by Eldridge and a two-run home run by Mollenhauer.   The loss went to Marrie, who gave up two earned runs in 3.2 innings.  He struck out two and walked one.  Mariotti went the first three innings, giving up four hits and one run in three innings.  Flye earned the win for ECU, going 4.1 innings with three hits and one run.   Vrable and Baldridge had two hits apiece for the Chants.  Both of Baldridge’s hits were doubles.  For ECU, Eldridge had three hits, while five Pirates had two hits.   Coastal travels to Radford, Va., to face Radford University in a three-game series starting Friday, May 12 at 3 p.m.