Pirates stun No. 5 Owls in C-USA

ECU pulls upset, avoids elimination

The East Carolina baseball team stayed alive in the Conference USA tournament by sending the top-seeded team home early on Thursday in New Orleans.

The Pirates knocked off Rice 4-3 in an elimination game behind 4 1/3 hitless innings of relief from T.J. Hose.

He struck out five and walked four after taking over for starter Justin Bristow in the fifth inning.

East Carolina scored three runs in the sixth to rally from a 3-1 deficit, keyed by Corey Kemp's 16th homer and RBI singles from Dustin Harrington and Harrison Eldridge.

Adam Zornes put Rice up 2-0 in the second inning thanks to a two-run homer to left-center.

It was ECU's second win ever against Rice.

The fifth-seeded Pirates (40-18) will face the UAB-Houston loser in another elimination game at 5 p.m. today. UAB will face Houston at 9 a.m. today.

Rice (42-13) was ranked No. 5 nationally by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball but went 0-2 in a league tournament for the first time since 1995.

(The Associated Press / ECU Release)

ALSO THURSDAY

CAMPBELL 11, MERCER 3: The Camels bounced back from a 14-0 opening-round loss to Lipscomb with an impressive victory in DeLand, Fla., over Mercer, riding two home runs from Brandon Scott to earn its first Atlantic Sun tournament triumph since 2000.

Scott began the game in thrilling fashion, sending Mercer starter David Harden's second pitch of the game over the left-field wall.

Scott, who finished the game 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored, capped his day with a two-run homer in the seventh inning.

Justin Lilly (6-4) gave Campbell a quality outing, allowing two earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. Lilly, a senior from Raleigh, struck out four and became the first Camels pitcher to win six games in a season since Mike Ange in 2005. Ange finished the season with a 6-1 record.

Campbell (21-36) swiped four bases, including a pair by Ryan Hamme, which raised its season total to 104. Campbell needs one more to overtake the 2001 team for most in a season.

Five Camels finished the day with multi-hit performances, including Scott's four-hit outing. Ellis Lowe, Mike Causey and Stephen Parsons each had two hits, while Graham Fronk collected three. Parsons drove in three runs as well.

Harden (5-3) was tagged with the loss for Mercer (24-33) as he gave up five runs, all earned, in 2 1/3 innings of work. Harden walked three batters and struck out just one.

Leading the way for the Bears were Tyler McCarty and Billy Shaughnessy. McCarty notched three hits while Shaughnessy collected two. Shaughnessy also drove in a run.

Campbell will play at 3 p.m. today against Belmont, which eliminated Lipscomb 9-8.

(The Associated Press / Ecu Release)