ECU Beats UCF 12-4 in Game Two
(18)ECU poured it on with a nine run eighth inning to break a 4-4 ties and lap (20)UCF twice in a 12-4 game two victory at John Euliano park Saturday evening.
ECU starter Chris Holba lasted 73 pitches in three and a third innings giving up one run on six hits and one strikeout before Ryan Ross, Davis Kirkpatrick and Jake Agnos came on to complete the task on the mound.
Agnos picked up the win for the Pirates to improve to 2-2 while Bryce Tucker fell to 0-2 with the loss for UCF. Right hander Chris Williams went six innings and 104 pitches for UCF(18-7/1-1 AAC), giving up three runs on six hits and three strikeouts before giving way to three Knight relievers all told on Saturday night.
"Jake (Agnos) was terrific coming out of the bullpen shutting them down and was hitting his spots," said ECU head coach Cliff Godwin, "I thought Caddell put together a good at-bat with his two RBI single in the sixth and Connor’s home run in the eighth closed the door.”
“This was a great win for us. We didn’t play particularly well tonight, but we were able to capitalize on some of their miscues. Washer had a big hit that I though energized us with the home run that tied it in the eighth, then we just took what they gave us and were able to put up some runs," Godwin said.
UCF took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before scoring two more runs in the fifth as Logan Hizer and Mathew Mika produced runs for the Knights. Then ECU(17-5/1-1 AAC) scored three in the top of the sixth to knot the contest at 3-3 before the Knights scored another run in the sixth to regain the lead at 4-3.
East Carolina found themselves in a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning on a leadoff homer from ECU’s Jake Washer.. That was followed by a Nick Barber shot to centerfield off of UCF pitcher Bryce Tucker with the bases loaded. The ball was nearly caught by centerfielder Nick Alejo but was bobbled and Brady Lloyd scored to give the Pirates their first lead of the game at 5-4 in the top of the eighth.
Then with the bases still loaded and one out in the same frame, Bryant Packard hit into what looked to be a double-play but the throw to second was dropped and ECU scored two more runs to expand the Pirate lead to 6-4.
After ECU loaded the bases again in the same inning, Seth Cadell’s liner down the first base line allowed Drew Henrickson to score. UCF’s third error of the inning suddenly had ECU up 8-4.
Connor Litton then added insult to injury with a grand slam homer that blew the game wide open to make it 12-4 Pirates.
The two team will resume action in game three of their AAC series Sunday afternoon with a first pitch scheduled for 1 o’clock.
