East Carolina University
Elon
ECU Completes Sweep At Elon With 20-4 Victory
March 15, 2015 | Baseball
ELON, N.C. - East Carolina recorded a season-high 22 hits which included three home runs, two of them in grand style, en route to a 20-4 win completing the non-conference series sweep Sunday afternoon at Walter C. Latham Park.
The Pirates (13-6) extended their win streak in the series to 11-straight games and have now won 12 of the last 14 contests.
David Lucroy (2-0) tossed six scoreless frames allowing three hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Evan Voliva (2 Rs), Luke Bolka (2 Rs) and Joe Ingle each worked an inning of relief helping the Pirates their third-straight weekend series sweep.
Jake Stalzer (1-3) took the loss for the Phoenix (8-9) where he was roughed up for seven runs (all earned) on 10 hits with five walks in 3.1 innings. John Antonelli also allowed seven runs (all earned) on four hits with five free passes in 2.1 innings, while Sean Byrnes was touched for six runs (all earned) on five hits in one frame. Mike Krill was the lone hurler to keep ECU in check on the afternoon working 2.1 scoreless frames.
ECU continued to flex its offensive prowess of late posting double-digit hits for the fifth-straight game and 10th time this season. Reid Love and Travis Watkins each recorded five hits, while Hunter Allen, Jackson Mims, Cam Snow and Eric Tyler added two hits. Eight Pirates scored two runs with Love crossing home three times, while Love (4), Luke Lowery (5) and Bailey Sugg (4) each drove in a career-high runs.
UP NEXT:
ECU returns home for five-straight games playing host to Princeton in a pair of midweek games (Mar. 17-18, both at 6:30 p.m.) and Virginia Commonwealth (Mar. 20-22) ... For Tuesday's game against the Tigers, which will be played on St. Patrick's Day, ECU Athletics will be offering $3 tickets to anyone who is wearing green ... Tickets are redeemable at the ECU Baseball Ticket Office starting at 4:30 p.m. (ET).
How It Happened:
ECU scored at least one run in the first seven innings taking a commanding 20-0 lead, before Elon would plate a pair in the seventh and eight to make it a 20-4 final. Despite never trailing in the contest, Allen's two-out bases loaded walk in the third gave ECU a 5-0 lead scoring Watkins, which proved to be the game-winning run. Love would follow an infield single that plated Charlie Yorgen pushing the lead to six, 6-0. After scoring runs in the fourth and fifth frames, ECU broke the game open with a seven-spot in the sixth thanks to a bases clearing double by love and a grand slam by Lowery - all coming with two outs. The next inning saw the Pirates plate five more runs highlighted by Sugg's grand slam, which was his first collegiate hit. In the second inning, Luke Bolka blasted his first collegiate home run sending a solo shot to straight away center with one out.
Inside The Box Score:
Sixteen (16) of ECU's 20 runs came with two outs ... All runs in the third (2), sixth (7) and seventh (5) were with two men away, as well as one in the first and second stanzas ... The Pirates batted .489 (22-for-45) in the contest, .556 (10-for-18) with two outs, .444 (12-for-27) with runners on base, .474 (9-for-19) with RISP, .572 (4-for-7) with the bases loaded and .588 (20-for-34) in advancement opportunities ... Despite leaving runners on base, ECU drew a season-high 13 walks while striking out just six times.
Game Notes:
Yorgen saw his 12-game hit streak snapped with an 0-for-4 performance, but he drew three walks to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 19 games ... Watkins (10), Allen (8) and Brooks (8) were other notable Pirates to extend their hit streaks ... ECU hit a pair of grand slams in a game for the first time since 2010 when Chris Gosik and Zach Wright teamed up for a pair against N.C. Central ... Watkins swiped four of ECU's six bases becoming the first Pirate since Harrison Eldridge stole four against VCU on Mar. 11, 2008 ... Lowery belted his league-leading eighth home run of the season and has hit a home run in 4 of last 5 games (three-straight contests) ... He also extended his current streak with at least one RBI in 11-straight games with his five on the day (12 of 14 games this season) ... Love and Watkins each had five hits, the first in a game since Jack Reinheimer had five at Jacksonville on Mar. 16, 2013 ... Finally the road non-conference sweep is the first in school history (records do not indicate all road games prior to the 1966 season).
