ECU Pounds UNC 9-5
If anyone was looking for a marquee win for (8)ECU, they got one Wednesday night when the eighth ranked Pirates dispatched (12)North Carolina 9-5 in in front of 4,023 in Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill.
Jake Washer’s grand slam homer highlighted a six run first inning that set the tone for the Pirates and proved to be big late in the game.
With the win, ECU moved to 37-11 on the season. Alec Burleson improved to 5-1 in the process with the victory for ECU while Andrew Grogan(4-2) absorbed the loss for UNC who fell to 35-13 in just their fourth home loss of the season.
“We just to come out and play our brand of baseball. We just had to not let the crowd affect us. We knew that they were going to be good and we knew we would have to do what we needed to do to win,” said Burleson, “I thought we came out and just did what we always do. We always play hard and do the little things right and it worked out for us tonight.”
Cliff Godwin wants to just enjoy the win and not get too far ahead of himself then get a good night sleep before he and his Pirates jump on a jet to Wichita State for a three-game AAC series this weekend. But before he do, he expressed his pleasure with the outing overall in Chapel Hill.
“I thought our guys really came to play. We had a really good approach against a guy who has pitched well in the middle of the week in Grogan. Obviously, Washer’s big grand slam was huge in that first inning, but we just kept adding on and even added one late on Hoover’s two-out RBI,” Cliff Godwin said afterward, “There were a lot of quality at bats. When you put together tough at-bats, sometimes good things happen.”
“The pitching was good. Burly gave us a good start. We played good defense behind him. Gavin Williams got us out of a jam. Sam (Lanier) pitched good for two innings then (Evan) Volva made it interesting but he got the job done.”
ECU got off to a fast 6-0 lead in the first inning on an Alec Burleson RBI base hit to third base. Turner Brown then walked with the bases loaded to score another run before Jake Washer’s grand slam over the left field wall gave the Pirates a commanding six run cushion.
UNC right-hander Andrew Grogan ended up lasting just one out after giving up six runs before he was lifted. Austin Love and eventually Will Sandy, Hansen Butler and Josh Dotson came on for the Tar Heels in relief.
The Pirates added a run in the second frame on a Turner Brown single to left and Lane Hoover scored before Spencer Brickhouse was tagged out at home plate.
In the second inning, a Harris grounder to first base produced North Carolina's first run of the game when Ike Freeman crossed home plate to make it 6-1.
The ECU lead grew to 8-1 on an RBI pop fly to right from Alec Burleson in the top of the third.
Cam Colmore came on in the bottom of the fifth inning for ECU starting pitcher Alec Burleson who went four innings, giving up one run on two hits with four strikeouts. Then Gavin Williams came in a third of an inning later.
Carolina picked up a run in the fifth to cut the lead to six runs when Dylan Enwiller reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Dylan Harris to score. Then in the same inning, Aaron Sabato added an RBI to make it 8-3 on a base hit to centerfield that brought Enwiller across home plate.
Lane Hoover made it 9-3 ECU with an RBI base hit to left in the top of the seventh inning before Sabato struck again with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to cut the Pirate lead to 9-4.
The Tar Heels got as close as they had been since the first inning when an infield RBI single from Ike Freeman scored a run in the ninth for North Carolina. Brandon Montorano was then beaned in the arm for the second time in the game on a Evan Voliva pitch that loaded the bases with a chance to tie the game with a home run but Voliva struck out Dylan Enwiller to end it.
ECU next takes on Wichita State in game one of the three game weekend series Friday night at 7 o'clock.
