Cole Shelton led Memphis's offense with two hits.

May 15, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

No. 30 East Carolina 8, Memphis 1

No. 30 East Carolina (38-16; 12-10 C-USA)     100 100 060 - 8 8 0
Memphis (16-37; 4-17 C-USA)                   000 000 001 - 1 5 1

Memphis kept the game close through seven innings, but a six-run surge by the 30th-ranked East Carolina Pirates put the game away and sent the Tigers to a 12th straight loss in the series opener at Nat Buring Stadium on Thursday night.

The Tigers got a valiant effort from left-hander Brach Davis, who was pitching in his first C-USA series opener. Davis held the league's strongest offense to five hits in seven innings, while inducing 10 flyball outs. However, he suffered his fourth loss of the year, giving up four runs, three of which were earned.

Davis was out dueled by ECU starter Seth Maness, who improved to 9-1 and was just one out away from a complete-game shutout. The freshman allowed one run on five hits and struck out eight Tigers. Bailey Daniels worked the final out of the game.

A double by Harrison Eldridge helped get ECU on the board in the first inning. The Pirates centerfielder stole third and scored on a slow groundout by Cory Kemp.

ECU made it 2-0 in the fourth after Jamie Ray knocked a leadoff single to rightfield and stole second. He scored on a groundball out by Kyle Roller.

Six of the first seven Pirate batters to come to the plate scored in the eighth. A defensive miscue allowed Stephen Batts to advance to second to leadoff the inning and Davis then walked Kemp. The Tiger lefty was then lifted in favor of Marc Ashley. Ashley promptly plunked Brandon Henderson with his first pitch of the night and Ray lined a single off the glove of a leaping Chad Zurcher at second to score Batts. Kemp came in after Ashley walked Drew Schieber with the bases loaded. That made the score 4-0. A two-run double by Dustin Harrington, followed by a two-run single by Eldridge gave the Pirates an 8-0 cushion.

Cole Shelton led Memphis with two hits, but it was Brett Bowen and Robby Graham who produced the Tigers only run of the game. Bowen laced a single down the leftfield line and took second on a passed ball. Graham then perfectly flared a looping single just inside the leftfield foul line to bring Bowen home.

Ashley gave up four runs on three hits in an inning of work. Freshman Andrew Haley worked a scoreless ninth.

The Tigers will battle he Pirates on game two on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. K.K. Chalmers, Alex Fennell, Chris Kirkland, Neil Schenk and Philip Utley will be honored in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the ballgame.