Green Wave Hoses ECU Out of C-USA Tourney

Tenth Inning Keeps Tulane Alive; ECU Goes Home

It was a hot, sultry afternoon in Houston—the kind where you sought refuge from as a kid under a garden hose. Unfortunately for ECU, the Green Wave got to T. J. Hose and stayed alive by winning a ten inning tight game by a score of 2-1.

Shane Matthews pitched a career best 8 1/3 innings for the Pirates, and kept the game tight. His counterpart, Billy Mohl, didn’t go as deep but was just as good, going six innings and giving up only a run on seven hits.

The game was decided in the tenth when Matt Riser singled up the middle to lead off the tenth. Everett sacrificed Riser to second. That brought Warren McFadden to the plate. Hose had no place to put McFadden with Mark Hamilton coming up next. Hose threw two sliders that McFadden couldn’t drive, and with the count 1-2, he came back with another slider—only a hanging one. “My eyes lit up,” McFadden said afterwards. McFadden stroked a single to right that scored Riser.

That put things in the hands of Daniel Latham, who on one pitch had gotten a double play to end the ninth. He got the first two hitters with relative ease, but Jake Smith singled. But on the very next pitch, Witter grounded out to end the game. Latham commented afterwards, “I knew that if I threw strikes, my defense would be there for me.”

Tulane moves on to face UH tomorrow morning at 9am in a win or go home game.