ECU baseball falls 5-4 in opener to Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. – Chase Cockrell and Ryan Olenek tallied five of No. 8 Ole Miss' eight hits, while David Parkinson allowed three runs in seven innings leading the Rebels to a 5-4 win over No. 6 East Carolina Friday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 12,117 at Swayze Field.

Parkinson (1-0) surrendered the three runs (all earned) on six hits while walking one and striking out six. Will Stokes recorded the save working two innings of relief where he allowed one run and struck out three.

Evan Kruczynski (0-1) took the loss giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts in seven innings. Matt Bridges tossed an inning of relief allowing a run (earned) on two hits while striking out three.

Olenek led the Rebels (1-0) going 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Cockrell was 2-for-4 with a RBI while also scoring a run. Will Goslan belted a solo home run, which came in the second frame, and scored a pair of runs.

Luke Bolka and Spencer Brickhouse each registered a pair of hits and drove in one run for the Pirates (0-1). Brickhouse, who also scored a pair of runs, homered in his first collegiate game, while Dwanya Williams-Sutton blasted a leadoff homer to get the season underway.

How It Happened:

Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, Ole Miss plated a pair of runs to take a 4-3 lead and never looked back. Cockrell led off with a single to center and took third on Andrew Henrickson's error before scoring on a passed ball to tie the game at three-all. Golsan followed with a walk and Thomas Dillard's RBI double pushed him across for the one run lead.

Ole Miss added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth stanza on Cockrell's single down the left field line that plated Tate Blackman for a 5-3 advantage.

But ECU didn't go away quietly as Brickhouse deposited two-out 1-2 offering over the wall in right-center pulling the Pirates within one, 5-4, in the top of the ninth.

Williams-Sutton staked ECU to a 1-0 lead blasting a leadoff home run to left-center off Parkinson on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. It was the first leadoff home run to start a season for the Pirates since Jack Reinheimer's homer against Milwaukee on Feb. 17, 2012.

Ole Miss knotted the game at one-all in the bottom half of the first when Olenek laced a double down the first base line, then stole second and strolled home on a Travis Watkins throwing error.

Golsan gave Ole Miss a 2-1 lead taking an 0-1 offering from Kruczynski down the left field line.

Three-straight two-out doubles to left field by Brickhouse, Bolka and T.J. Riles helped ECU regain the lead in the top of the fourth, 3-2. Brickhouse got it started with a shot off the wall and came around on Bolka's ball that also went off the wall. Then Riles laced a ball down the line easily plating Bolka before he was thrown out at third.

The two teams will return to the diamond on Saturday for game two of the three-game set with a first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (ET).