March 20, 2004

Final Stats

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Junior catcher Greg Dini hit a leadoff home run in the top of the 11th and the Green Wave plated three unearned runs later in the frame as the Tulane University baseball team defeated Conference USA foe East Carolina 14-10 Saturday evening at Harrington Field.

Senior closer Joey Charron (2-0) set a Tulane career record by appearing in his 110th career game, and the southpaw earned the win after striking out three, walking none and picking off an inherited runner while scattering a pair of singles in 2.0 shutout innings. Junior left fielder Matt Barket, meanwhile, had three singles and a double while tying a school single-game record with seven at-bats.

With the win, Tulane ties the league-opening series at one game apiece as the Green Wave improve to 14-7 overall and 1-1 in C-USA play. East Carolina, meanwhile, saw their 19-game home winning streak come to an end as the Pirates dropped to 18-4 on the year and 1-1 in league action.

Tulane trailed 7-4 after six, but the Green Wave plated five runs in the top of the seventh to take a 9-7 advantage. The Pirates tied the score in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run homer by designated hitter Ryan Jones, but the Green Wave retook the lead in the top of the ninth when sophomore right fielder Brian Bogusevic hit a leadoff double, advanced to second on a single by pinch hitter Scott Madden, and scored on a wild pitch by ECU reliever Carter Harrell.

East Carolina, however, refused to go away when Ryan Norwood hit a leadoff double of his own in the home half of the frame, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Mike Green to push the game to extra innings.

Tulane went down in order in the top of the 10th, but the Pirates had something going when reserve second baseman Brett Lindgren walked to open the inning. From there, Charron came on and picked off Lindgren, but Jamie Paige and Jones hit back-to-back singles in the ensuing at-bats. Charron would bounce back, however, to strike out three-hole hitter Trevor Lawhorn and got clean-up batter Darryl Lawhorn to pop out to short to get out of the inning unscathed.

Dini put the Green Wave ahead with a leadoff bomb to right to get things going in the top of the 11th, and Tulane loaded the bases on a fielder's choice by pinch hitter Jason Pyle before sophomore centerfielder Nathan Southard and junior second baseman Joe Holland were hit by pitch.

East Carolina called on Shane Mathews to pitch the home team out of the jam, but the Pirates' reliever threw an attempted pickoff to third with no one covering. The ball rolled all the way down the left field fence which allowed all three runners to score and account for the final score.

Charron struck out the first two hitters he saw in the bottom of the 11th and got Mike Grace to fly out to right to seal the Tulane victory.

Barket was one of three players to post a multiple-hit game as Southard and Bogusevic went 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 respectively. Bogusevic belted his fourth home run of the year along the way, and Southard led the way with three RBI.

Tulane and East Carolina return to action on Sunday when close out the series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 11:30 a.m.