Pirates sweep away Knights in C-USA opening series

The ECU baseball team jumped out to a 3-0 Conference-USA start after sweeping UCF this past weekend.

The Pirate bats remained scorching as they outscored the Knights by a combined 49-7 in the series. ECU took Game 1, 26-1 before winning 13-3 in Game 2 and 10-3 in Sunday's finale.

ECU (16-4, 3-0) has reeled off six straight victories since losing in the second game of the UCLA series over spring break.

Pirate head coach Billy Godwin believes this could be the best offensive team he has had in his four seasons in Greenville.

"I've had some good clubs," he said. "But I haven't quite been a part of anything like this."

On Sunday, flaring tempers aided in igniting ECU's bats after the Pirates fell behind 3-0 after two innings.

ECU earned its first lead of the game when sophomore right fielder Devin Harris knocked his first homer of the season with a solo shot to left, putting the Pirates up for good, 4-3.

"It was a fastball away," said Harris. "I got around it a little bit and hooked it, but I got it up in the air and made solid contact. I knew it was gone right when I hit it."

Harris and his teammates were fueled by Stephen Batts' three-run bomb to tie the game at 3 in the third. After making contact, Batts stood at the plate and admired his crushing hit, then flipped his bat in celebration as he began his home run trot.

The UCF dugout took exception to the display, especially Golden Knights assistant coach Cliff Godwin, who played catcher at ECU from 1997-2001. The coaching staffs exchanged verbal blows before both teams were given warnings by the umpire.

"It's just part of the game," Batts said of the play. "I was just trying to fire our team up."

And fire his team up he did, as the Pirates added 7 more runs, scoring 10 unanswered.

Billy Godwin downplayed the third inning incident after the game.

"Tempers are going to escalate when you're trying to compete," he said. "That's all I really have to say. They have a great team, a great program and a great coaching staff."

ECU used an outstanding relief effort from freshman lefty Kevin Brandt (4-0) to seal the sweep over UCF (7-15, 0-3). Brandt took over for sophomore right-hander Mike Anderson in the third inning and delivered a near spotless performance. The Fuquay-Varina native gave up just one hit in 5 1/3 innings of work, allowing no runs and striking out four.

Brandt credited the offense for another double-digit scoring effort.

"[Kyle] Roller and those guys are killing the ball," he said. "Give all the credit to them. Look at how many runs we scored this weekend. It's unreal."

The Knights jumped out to an early lead after a three-run first inning.

Josh Siebenaler scored Colin Arnold, who reached base on a leadoff triple, on an RBI-groundout to second base to give UCF a 1-0 lead. After a Shane Brown infield single, catcher Brandon Romans pelted a two-run homer to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.

Senior Bailey Daniels closed out the ninth inning for the Pirates, allowing no runs and one hit.

"What I'm excited about is Kevin Brandt," Godwin said. "To have him in the bullpen gives us a shot in the arm. We try to develop our pitchers and get our staff going, but when he can come in and do what he's shown us he can do, it's like having a fourth starter to come out of the [bullpen]."

ECU used a five-run seventh inning to slay the Knights for good, highlighted by a three-run blast from Kyle Roller. Roller's home run scored Ryan Wood, who reached on a walk, and Batts, who reached on an infield error.

Roller, Brandon Henderson and Drew Schieber each finished with multiple hits for the Pirates as Roller's three RBI led the way.

The Pirates racked up 21 hits on Saturday as all nine starters recorded at least one hit. Whitehead, Wood and Dustin Harrington each had four hits to propel ECU to a 13-3 win.

ECU exploded for a five-run first inning to bury UCF. After the Knights narrowed the margin to 5-2 in the second frame, the Pirates added four more runs in the third to give starting pitcher Seth Maness all the support he would need.

In seven innings of work, Maness (2-0) gave up two runs on five hits and struck out three. Sthil Sowers gave up one run in the eighth before Seth Simmons finished the game off in the ninth.

On Friday, Roller, who was named C-USA Hitter of the Week, tallied five hits with a pair of home runs in ECU's 26-1 blowout win. The junior first baseman finished the weekend going 9-for-13 with 10 RBI.

"I kind of struggled last week, just getting little chip shots here and there," Roller said. "But [the ball] kind of looks like a beach ball right now. I hope it stays like that."

Wood, Batts, Schieber, Harrington and Harris each had at least three hits on the night.

Junior transfer Chris Heston (3-0) worked seven innings and gave up one run on seven hits, striking out five. Patrick Somers and Lance Honeycutt closed out the game for Heston.

This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.