Bryson Worrell’s third inning homer highlighted (10)ECU 5-2 game two win after the Pirates won big in game one on Thursday evening at USF Baseball Stadium in Tampa.
The Pirates got the game two scoring underway in the top of the third with a pair of RBI singles from Lane Hoover and Seth Caddell. Then Worrell homered to right field to give ECU a 5-0 lead.
South Florida answered in the bottom of the third with a Riley Hogan single that allowed Carmine Lane to score. Then a Nelson Rivera double to left scored another run to trim the ECU(38-11/20-6 AAC)lead to a field goal at 5-2.
Tyler Smith went 4.2 innings on the mound in his Thursday game two start for ECU. Smith yielded seven hits but just two runs with three strikeouts and no walks before Cam Colmore(6-1) entered to pitch two innings of scoreless baseball. C.J. Mayhue came on in the seventh. Matt Bridges pitched 1.2 innings late to grab his third save.
Collin Sullivan(2-3) got the start and absorbed the loss for USF. Smith gave up five runs on six hits with three strikeouts in three innings of work. Dylan Burns and Logan Lyle pitched in relief for the Bulls.
GAME ONE: ECU 10 USF 1
10)East Carolina got cranked off offensively and faced little resistance from USF, cruising to a 10-1 game one AAC weekend victory Thursday afternoon in the first of four games in Tampa.
ECU(37-11/19-6 AAC) ace Gavin Williams(9-0) picked up the victory to remain undefeated on the season. Williams went six innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run with eleven strikeouts before right-hander Danny Beal came in the seventh frame in relief.
The two teams remained scoreless until the third inning when Thomas Francisco’s sacrifice fly to left scored Ryley Johnson for a 1-0 lead. That was soon followed by a Carmine Lane infield grounder to first for USF that allowed Nick Gonzalez to score to tie the game at 1-1.
In the fifth inning ECU benefitted from RBI singles from Seth Caddell and Lane Hoover to improve the Pirate lead to 3-1 before standing three runners on base.
USF starting left-hander Joseph Sanchez(0-2) lasted just five innings, giving up eight hits and three runs. Left-hander Caleb Pundsack then pitched an eventful third of an inning of relief.
With the bases loaded in the sixth, Connor Norby slapped a single through the left side of the USF infield to score a pair of runs. Lane Hoover’s single to center added two more runs before Zach Agnos got into the act with an RBI single up the middle to make it 8-1. The Pirates then added two more runs on a Connor Churchill wild pitch and a Bryson Worrell ground out to short that brought Agnos across home plate in a 10-1 contest.
The Pirates left three runners stranded in the seventh frame and stranded eleven base runners all told in game one. USF committed three errors in the contest.
Devin Hemenway pitched the ninth inning for South Florida while Nick Logusch got an inning of work at the end for the Pirates to close out the game.
The two teams will resume action on Friday with a 3 o’clock scheduled first pitch at USF Baseball Stadium.
