Rosser homers in loss  

GREENVILLE, March 6, 2007 – East Carolina came through with a late surge after a strong performance by Aggies ace John Primus as the Aggies fell to the Pirates 7-4 on Tuesday at Clark-LeClair Field.

Neil Rosser went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a home run, while Nick Mayo added two hits. Primus pitched 7.1 innings, surrendered just two earned runs and gave up four hits, but took the hard-luck loss.

Primus and the Aggies ran into trouble in the eighth. East Carolina’s Dale Mollenhauer led off the inning with a walk. Primus then got Brandon Henderson to pop up to second. Sophomore reliever Ron Phelps replaced Primus.

Mollenhauer greeted Phelps by stealing second to movie into scoring position. Ryan Tousley took advantage by singling to center field to score Mollenhauer from second to give the Pirates a 5-1 lead. Tousley moved into scoring position thanks to a passed ball. Tousley was thrown out trying to steal third. But Brett Butts kept the Pirates rally going with a single to left.

Pinch-hitter Kyle Roller doubled home Butts and Corey Kemp capped off the eighth-inning scoring with a single that scored Roller for a 7-1 Pirates lead. The Aggies wouldn’t let the Pirates get away with an easy ninth, however.

C.J. Beatty open the ninth with a walk off of relief pitcher Mike Flye. Rosser followed with his first home run of the season, a bullet shot down the left field line to close the lead to 7-3. Pinch-hitter Joe Wade doubled down the left field line to keep the Aggies hopes alive. Mayo’s single to left field put runners on first and third with no outs.

East Carolina turned to Shane Mathews. Mathews ran into more trouble as Mayo stole second to put two runners in scoring position. But he handled the Aggies toughest part of the lineup by striking out Jeremy Jones and getting Charlie Gamble to fly out to right. Gamble’s fly ball, scored Wade, but left the Aggies with two outs in the inning. McIntyre’s groundball to second ended the game and earned Mathews his fourth save of he season.