MALIBU, Calif. - Junior Seth Maness fanned a career-best 11 batters in seven innings of work, while Seth Simmons recorded his fourth save as No. 10 East Carolina topped Pepperdine 3-2 Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium. With the win, the Pirates improve to 8-6 overall and Pepperdine drops to 6-9.
Maness picked up his second win in a row after dropping his first two outings of the season. On the day, he allowed two runs on six hits with no walks and retired six of his first seven with three strike outs. From the fourth to seventh innings, Maness fanned eight batters to push his season total to 24 with just two walks. Simmons allowed two hits in two innings and pushed his career save total to 15 tying him for third place on the school’s all-time list with Shane Mathews (2004-07).
Matt Bywater was equally impressive on the day recording a season-high 10 strikeouts in eight innings of work where he allowed three runs on eight hits with one walk. Aaron Gates pitched the ninth giving up one hit and striking out one.
ECU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a two-run home run by Kyle Roller, the 42nd of his career. Dustin Harrington reached on an infield single to third to extend his current hit streak to 22 games, fourth-longest in school history, before crossing home on Roller’s blast to left field.
Pepperdine knotted the game at two in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a pair of singles. Miles Silverstein singled to short to start the inning and Harrison Kain reached on a fielder’s choice before Brian Humphries singled up the middle, advancing to second on the throw, scoring Silverstein. With runners on second and third, Joe Sever ground out to second pushing across the second run to tie the game a two.
The Pirates regained the lead in the fourth, 4-3, when Corey Thompson scored on a double-play ground out by Devin Harris. Thompson singled to center then took second on John Wooten’s single through the left side before landing on third when Austin Homan was hit by a Bywater pitch leading up to the run.
Offensively the Pirates pounded out a weekend-high nine hits with Roller, Thompson and Wooten collecting two each.
The Pirates will be back in action on Tuesday, Mar. 16 when they play host to in-state foe Garnder-Webb. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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