GREENVILLE, N.C. (March 20, 2011) – The Rutgers baseball team dropped a 6-0 decision to East Carolina in front of 2,564 fans at Clark-LeClair Stadium Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights moved to 7-11 on the season, while the Pirates moved to 16-4 on the year.

The Scarlet Knights faced a strong pitching performance from East Carolina’s Kevin Brandt, who struck out 12 with just two hits surrendered in seven innings of scoreless work for the Pirates. Rutgers starter Nathaniel Roe (Plainfield, N.J.) struck out a career-high seven without allowing a walk in six innings in the loss for the Scarlet Knights.

ECU’s Trent Whitehead led off the bottom of the first with a single and moved over to second on a failed pickoff attempt where Corey Thompson drove him home with an RBI single back up the middle to give East Carolina the early lead. Ben Fultz later tripled home a run in the fourth to make it 2-0.

The Pirates put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth and Thompson drove home both runners with a single to right field to build the ECU advantage to 4-0.

East Carolina extended its lead to 6-0 with two runs in the seventh inning, capped by a John Wooten RBI double.

Roe (1-4) has 17 strikeouts combined in his last three starts after posting five strikeouts each against Georgia Tech (3/6) and Monmouth (3/13) in his previous two starts. Sophomore Dan O’Neill (Garfield, N.J.) and junior Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, N.Y.) combined for two innings of scoreless relief for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers returns home where the Scarlet Knights will host Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Bainton Field.