Purple Takes ECU Baseball Fall World Series

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Redshirt sophomore Shawn Armstrong tossed five strong innings and Seth Simmons recorded his second save helping Purple to a 3-2 victory in seven innings over the Gold in the final game of the 2010 Purple-Gold World Series at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium Thursday afternoon.

With the win, the Purple squad takes the series with a 2-0-1 overall record. Armstrong (1-0) allowed two runs on four hits over the five frames with one walk. Mike Anderson made his lone appearance of the series in the sixth allowing one hit and Simmons closed out game surrendering one hit, walking two and striking out two, including Joshua Lovick to seal the win for the Purple.

 Mike Wright (0-1) was touched for three runs (all earned) on five hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander waked two and recorded both of the Gold team’s strikeouts. Sophomore Tyler Joyner made his second appearance of the series working 2 1/3 innings of relief with a pair of walks and freshman Dario Santangelo recorded the final out of the game in the top of the seventh. Junior Corey Thompson put the Gold (0-2-1) on the board in the bottom of the first on a ground out that scored Philip Clark for a 1-0 advantage.

Clark led off the frame with a double to right center and took second on Jack Reinheimer's sac bunt before crossing home on Thompson’s grounder to short. Austin Homan gave Gold a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a RBI single that scored Reinheimer, who singled through the left side with one out. Thompson moved the freshman from Charlotte, N.C. over to second on a ground out to third before Homan laced his third hit of the series to left. The Purple answered in the top half of the fifth plating three runs to take a slim 3-2 lead. Luke Harmer singled to right center to start the stanza and took second on Timothy Younger's sac bunt to the left side of the pitchers mound.

 Chris Gosik collected the first of three consecutive base hits with his shot to left field that scored Harmer. Trent Whitehead singled to left to put runners on first and second and John Wooten roped an opposite field hit pushing across Gosik knotting the game at two. Junior College transfer Michael Ussery drew a bases loaded walk and Jacob Davis plated the game-winning run on a sac fly to center, scoring Whitehead. Reinheimer, who collected a game-high two hits, led all hitters with a .545 (6-for-11) average in the series, while Davis (5-for-10) and Wooten (5-for-10) batted .500 in the three-game tilt.

 On the mound, the Pirate pitching staff fanned a total of 36 batters and allowed 21 runs (15 earned). Game two, which was suspended Wednesday night after 10 innings, went down in the books as a 2-2 tie. The Pirates will open the 2011 season at home when they play host to Youngstown State on Feb. 18 with a first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. (EST).