The Pinecrest baseball program shined during an unusual "doubleheader" in Greenville, Saturday afternoon.

After the Patriot baseball team defeated Northern Durham 5-2 in the first game of the Hot Stove Invitational baseball tournament, the coaches and players hopped on the bus and drove to East Carolina University.

There they watched former Pinecrest star Seth Maness twirl a three-hitter against Rice, the No. 7 ranked team in the country. The 16th-ranked Pirates (26-8) won the game 4-1. The run scored by the Owls (24-8) was unearned. In pitching his first complete game as a collegian, Maness, now 4-0, struck out eight batters and walked one. During one stretch, he retired 20 out of 21 batters.

After going 9-2 last season as a freshman, Maness was selected as the pre-season Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and named to a number of pre-season All-American squads.

Pinecrest coach Jeff Hewitt is an ECU grad and former pitcher for the Pirates. His Patriot (12-2) squad got an outstanding pitching performance from Zach Christian in the victory over Northern Durham. The junior left-hander is 3-1 for the season after allowing three hits and striking out nine batters while walking three.

Andrew MacDonald, who is 5-0, replaced Christian in the sixth and picked up his second save. Taylor MacDonald had three hits to lead the Pats offensively.

The Patriots meet Eastern Wayne at 7 p.m. on Monday and J.H. Rose at 7 p.m. on Tuesday as play continues under the round robin format.