Warzon Lifts East Carolina To 9-7 Win
October 06, 2009 | Baseball
Oct. 6, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Daniel Warzon's two-RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted East Carolina to a 9-7 win over the Pirates in game one of the Purple-Gold World Series at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
With the score tied at seven, Kyle Roller led off the frame with a walk and Devin Harris singled to left putting runners at first and second with no outs. After a Tanner Merritt balk advanced the runners 90 feet, Merritt retired Corey Thompson for the first out of the inning before being lifted for Seth Maness, who intentionally walked Zach Wright to load the bases. Warzon collected his second hit of the contest when he took a Maness pitch to right field pushing across both Roller and Harris for the go ahead lead.
Seth Simmons(1-0) picked up the win for East Carolina after working two innings where he allowed two runs (both earned) on two hits with a pair of strikeouts. Freshman Tyler Joyner got the start lasting two innings where he surrendered three runs on six hits with three walks and a punch out. Walk-on Jamie McGhee bridged the gap between Joyner and Simmons pitching 3.0 innings giving up two runs on four hits.
Merritt (0-1) suffered the loss allowing two runs on one hit in 1/3 of an inning. Starter Zach Woods worked 3.1 innings allowing four runs on three hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts. Sophomore Patrick Somers allowed three runs on four hits in 1.2 innings with a strikeout and Maness recorded the final two outs giving up one hit.
The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI single by Jared Avchen to left field that scored Trent Whitehead and a sac fly to left off the bat of Jacob Davis. Whitehead ripped a full-count double to left to start the frame then took third on Cam Freeman's sac bunt. Freshman John Wooten followed with a single and Chris Gosik loaded the bases with a walk leading up to Davis' sac fly RBI.
Thompson knotted the game at two in the bottom of the first with a two-out double to right-center plating Philip Clark and Roller. Clark led off the frame with an infield single the stole second and third before the Pirates could record an out. Roller drew a one-out walk to put runners on the corners and touched home on Thompson's two-base hit.
East Carolina scored a pair of runs in the second to take a 4-2 lead. Warzon, who led off the frame with a walk, scored the first run on Clark's sac fly to left. Freshman Bryan Bass scored the second run when Roller singled up the middle with two outs. Bass reached error then moved into scoring position after stealing second base before coming home on Roller's first hit of the contest.
Freeman tied the game at four on a ground rule double in the third. Avchen led off with a single up the middle and moved to third on Wooten's double to right center. After McGee relieved Joyner, Wooten scored on Austin Homan's one-out single just before Freeman laced a shot over the head of Roller in left field scoring Davis for a four-all tie.
Gosik put the Pirates up 5-4 with an RBI single scoring Avchen from second in the top of the fifth inning. Avchen single up the middle with one out then took second on a passed ball.
Back-to-back singles by Roller and Harris highlighted a three-run fifth that put East Carolina up 7-5. With runners on first and second, Thompson reached on an error to load the bases for Zach Wright, who scored Roller on a sac fly to center. Warzon followed with an RBI single to left that pushed across Harris and Clark capped the scoring with his second hit of the game to center.
With one swing of the bat, Avchen tied the game at seven when unloaded on a Simmons 2-0 offering in the sixth inning that scored Davis, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Game two of the Purple-Gold Series is scheduled for a nine inning affair on Wednesday, Oct. 7 starting at 7 p.m.
HItting Stats:
PIRATES: Trent Whitehead (1-for-1, double, walk, run); Austin Homan (1-for-4); Cam Freeman (1-for-6, 2 RBI, double); Jared Avchen (4-for-6, 3 RBI, home run, 3 runs); John Wooten (3-for-6, double, run); Chris Gosik (2-for-5, RBI); Jacob Davis (0-or-4, 2 runs).
EAST CAROLINA: Philip Clark (2-for-3, 2 RBI, run, 2 stolen bases); Dustin Harrington (0-for-4); Kyle Roller (2-for-2, RBI, 2 runs, 2 walks); Devin Harris (2-for-4, 2 runs); Corey Thompson (1-for-3, 2 RBI, double, run); Zach Wright (0-for-2, RBI); Daniel Warzon (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 runs); Bryan Bass (0-for-3, run, stolen base).
Pitching Stats:
PIRATES: Zach Woods (3.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks, 16 BF); Patrick Somers (1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, K, 10 BF); Tanner Merritt (Loss; 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 BF); Seth Maness (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BF).
EAST CAROLINA: Tyler Joyner (2.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, K, 17 BF); Jamie McGhee (3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 11 BF); Seth Simmons (Win, 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 Ks, 9 BF).
