May 25, 2005

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Brian Cavanaugh's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth lifted No. 4 seed East Carolina to a 6-5 win over the University of Houston baseball team Wednesday in the opening game of the 2005 Conference USA Tournament presented by PowerAde at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

The loss spoiled a valiant comeback by the Cougars who trailed 4-1 after the first inning but battled back to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. With the loss, the Cougars will face UAB game at 9 a.m., Thursday, in the first elimination contest of the tournament. ECU advances to face Tulane at 4 p.m., Thursday in the second round.

Freshman infielder Stephen Whalen went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs, while freshman infielder Bryan Pounds finished the day 3-for-4. Sophomore infielder Brad Lincoln led all players with three RBIs in the losing effort.

Cavanaugh went 4-for-5 with two runs and came just a double shy of hitting for the cycle to lead the Pirates who outhit the Cougars 13-10. Mike Grace batted 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

UH reliever Gene Flores collected the loss and dropped to 3-5 after giving up one run off two hits in 1.1 innings of work. ECU reliever Scott Andrews earned the win and improved to 5-3 after holding the Cougars scoreless in 0.2 innings.

Thursday morning's game can be heard live on the Internet at www.UHCougars.com with former UH letterwinners Nick Torina and Pat Cauley calling all the action. In addition, fans can follow all the play-by-play action by clicking on the "Live Stats" link at www.UHCougars.com.

The Cougars (27-29) grabbed the lead in their first at bat. After drawing a lead-off walk, Travis Tully moved all the way to third base when a pickoff attempt went awry and rolled down the first-base line. Brad Lincoln then plated Tully with a sacrifice fly to deep right field.

ECU (35-22) wasted little time in tying the game and then taking the lead in the next half-inning. Adam Witter's groundout plated Brian Cavanaugh for the first run, and Mike Grace, Ryan Peisel and Harrison Eldridge later rapped out back-to-back-to-back RBI-singles as the Pirates batted around in their first at bat.

UH trimmed that deficit in the third inning with a single run. Stephen Whalen led off with a double down the right-field line and moved up a base on Bryan Tully's single through the left side. Lincoln's groundout then allowed Whalen to score and pull the Cougars to within 4-2.

The score stayed that way until the fifth inning when UH grabbed the lead with three runs off four hits. Whalen led of with a single to center field and moved to third on Travis Tully's double to right center. Bryan Tully grounded out to third base, allowing Whalen to score and pull the Cougars to within 4-3. Brad Lincoln then plated Travis Tully with a double to left center and scored himself on Dustin Kingsbury's double down the left field line for a 5-4 UH lead.

In the sixth inning, Mike Grace led off with a single for ECU, moved to third following a pair of groundouts and knotted the game at 5-5 on Billy Richardson's RBI-single into center field.