April 3, 2004

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, NC - The #18 East Carolina Pirates baseball team behind 21 hits defeated the Charlotte 49ers, 13-5, before a Charlotte season-high 1,015 fans.

Thomas Bowker paced the 49ers with two hits including a home run.

Trevor Lawhorn, Ryan Norwood and Mark Minicozzi each had three hits for East Carolina.

Charlotte took their first lead of the series with four runs on three home runs in the first inning. Bowker leadoff the game for the fourth time this season with a solo home run over the right field wall. Then, Adam Willard connected on a solo home run over the center field two pitches later. Then, Brian Scafe closed out the scoring with his seventh home run of the season a two-run shot over the center field wall.

East Carolina cut the Charlotte lead in half with a couple of runs in the second inning. Jake Smith scored the Pirates first run on a Billy Richardson's fielder's choice. Then, Ryan Norwood scored the inning's other run on a Charlotte throwing error.

The Pirates added a run in the third inning when Ryan Jones scored on Norwood's infield single.

Then, ECU exploded for eight runs on seven hits to take the lead for good in the fifth inning. The damage was primarily done by a solo home run from Trevor Lawhorn, a two-run home run by Drew Costanzo and a grand slam by Ryan Jones.

The Pirates plated a run in the eighth and ninth inning to finish their scoring.

Bowker closed out the scoring in the game with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Randall Poplin in the ninth inning.

With the loss, Charlotte falls to 13-11 on the season and 3-5 in Conference USA. While, East Carolina improves to 23-6 on the season and 5-3 in Conference USA.

The two teams conclude their three-game Conference USA series, Sunday, April 4 at 1 pm.