Makarewicz 7th Inning Bomb Vaults ECU Past Cincinnati 5-4
(8)ECU rallied from behind late again on Thursday with three runs in the seventh inning on a double from Seth Caddell and a two-run Thomas Makarewicz homer to beat Cincinnati 5-4 in game one of a four-game AAC series Thursday night in Clark-LeClair Stadium.
ECU starter Carson Whisenhunt gave up eight hits and four runs with three strikeouts in four innings of work. Then Garrett Saylor went four scoreless innings in relief to move to 2-0 with the win before Ryder Giles closed it out at the end for his second save.
“I think I was just confident up there today and with A-Mac’s big home run, that boosted everybody’s confidence up there so it was just a really good game,” said Saylor who talked about what was working well for him on Friday.
“I felt like I had a feel for every one of my pitches today. The slider was pretty good, I had a feel for my change up, that was a first in a while. I’ve been working on that off the field, so that’s been good,” Saylor told PirateIllustrated.com.
Zach Segal lasted six innings in the starting role on the mound for Cincinnati, giving up eight hits, two earned runs with six strikeouts and a walk.
“It was a big swing by A-Mac and Seth Caddell, but if Garrett Saylor doesn’t come in and just neutralize their scoring then we’re not even in that situation,” said Cliff Godwin afterward, “Really proud of Saylor for coming in a tough situation and just maneuvering through four innings, struck out eight. Just a tremendous effort by him when Carson didn’t have his best stuff.”
Godwin was a bit irritated by the way his team performed overall and had words of advice afterward for his team.
“To be honest, Cincinnati did a much better job offensively than we did. They executed a lot better. They executed bunts, they executed hit and runs. We did not,” Godwin said, “We were just able to get a big walk, Seth doubles and then you got a big home run by A-Mac, so we can’t continue to live on the long ball. That’s not going to be a recipe for success for us. If we can’t get tougher and execute, we’re going to be in tough shape.”
The East Carolina head coach had lofty words to say about both the preparation and play of Alec Makarewicz.
“There has never been a player who has showed up and got more out of practice than that individual and it doesn’t surprise me when he has success because he’s put himself in the best situation to have success,” Godwin stated, “It doesn’t mean he’s going to have success every time but you can live and die with someone like A-Mac when they show up and practice the way they do. The guys love the way he goes about the game. Just his preparation is as good as anybody that I’ve been around in my entire life. That’s how hard he works.”
Finding a way to win late again on Thursday is the difference in remaining a highly ranked team like the Pirates are at the moment.
“I’m proud of them that they found a way to scratch and claw to get back into it. I keep going back to Saylor because if he doesn’t limit that inning then I don’t think we would have come back and had the opportunity to do that, Godwin told PirateIllustrated.com, “We’ve got to play better and play more consistent. I think we were lucky today. That’s my opinion.”
Josh Moylan got ECU(19-5/1-0 AAC) on the scoreboard first with an RBI base hit to left field that allowed Connor Norby to score. That was followed by an Alec Makarewicz single and a throwing error from shortstop Jake Hansen that resulted in another run.
In the top of the second Ryan Nicholson got Cincinnati(11-11/0-1 AAC) on the board with an RBI base hit to left center that cut the lead to 2-1.
A ground out to short from Eric Santiago allowed Bellini to cross home plate and tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning.
The Bearcats took the lead 4-2 in the fifth on a Cole Harting double that scored a run and a Wyatt Stapp base hit to right that allowed Harting to score.
Seth Caddell’s double down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh scored Thomas Francisco to cut the Bearcat lead to 4-3 before Thomas Makarewicz’s two-run homer off of Bearcat reliever Connor Linn(0-1) to left gave ECU a 5-4 lead.
The two teams will tee it up again on Friday in a 4 o’clock start for game two of the four game AAC series.
