Alec Bohm and Wichita State rolled into town and manhandled nationally ranked ECU 14-2 in the first of a three game AAC series in the Shockers’ first appearance in Greenville. It was the first meeting between the two schools since the 1991 NCAA tournament in their first ever meeting.
Bohm went four for five on the evening to produce six runs and two homers to lead the Shockers. Gunnar Troutwine went four for five with four RBI, Luke Ritter went three for five and scored a pair of runs and Trey Vickers went three for three with an RBI to lead the Wichita State batting onslaught.
Bryant Packard went three for three with a pair of RBI, Brady Lloyd went two for four and Spencer Brickhouse went two for five to lead the Pirates but it wasn’t enough as ECU(18-6) yielded 20 hits all told which was the most since 2010 when both Rice and High Point had 20 hits on the Pirates. 23 hits is the most all-time that ECU has ever given up back in 2005.
Right-hander Codi Heuer(5-0) lasted five innings to pick up the win and remain undefeated for Wichita State(19-4). Heuer gave up just a pair of runs in 85 pitches in the victory. Keylan Kilgore came on in the sixth in relief for the Shockers.
ECU wasn’t as fortunate on the mound where Trey Benton lasted just two innings to fall to 4-3 for ECU coughing up four early runs on six hits in 47 pitches of work. Then a bevy of seven different Pirate pitchers saw action in relief in the game one loss.
“Wichita State played their butts off. Man that was a butt whippin’ and anytime we made a mistake on the mound they made us pay for it,” ECU’s Cliff Godwin said afterward, “They’re a very good club and they were a lot better than us tonight.”
“I think they didn’t score in only one inning and it’s tough to win when you do that. We had tough enough bats up and down the lineup. Our guys fought but we just need to string more quality at bats together,” Godwin said, “Brady (Lloyd) and (Bryant) Packard had a lot of quality at bats. We just have to have more throughout the lineup.”
Alec Bohm deposited an early bomb into the right centerfield jungle to get the scoring underway to give Wichita State an early 1-0 lead. ECU answered in the bottom of the frame with a deep homer of their own from Bryant Packard to tie the game at 1-1 in what set up to be a slugfest.
But in the top of the second inning the Shockers got their bats cooking again when Gunner Troutwine’s single to left allowed Trey Vickers to score. Then Bohm got in the act again when his double down the third base line scored a pair of (18)Wichita State runs to open up a 4-1 cushion.
Troutwine gunned a homer over the right field wall in the top of the fourth to score two more Shocker runs that extended the Wichita State 6-1.
Dugas reached on a fielder’s choice in the top of the fifth and Wallace scored. Then Troutwine’s base hit to right brought home another Shocker run to make it 8-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bryant Packard’s sacrifice fly to left allowed Drew Henrickson to score for (16)ECU to briefly cut the lead to 8-2.
Then Trey Vickers added insult to injury with an RBI single to right that brought Bohm home for the Shockers’ ninth run to extend the lead to a touchdown.
Things only got worse in the bottom of the eighth when an ECU wild pitch produced another Shocker run. Then Mason O’Brien’s base hit to right brought Trey Vickers home as the Shocker lead exploded to 11-2.
Wichita State’s margin increased to 14-2 on another Bohm in the top of the ninth when Alec Baum deposited a three-run shot into the right centerfield jungle.
"We couldn’t bring anybody out of the bullpen that had an answer for them, so we will need to be better on the mound tomorrow," said Godwin, "We also need to be better offensively and a tick better defensively if we plan on winning.”
ECU added a run in the bottom of the ninth to end the scoring when Jake Washer doubled to left to score a run.
The two teams convene again Friday night at 6:30 weather permitting at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
