East Carolina University
Princeton
ECU Cruises To 11-2 Victory Over Princeton
March 17, 2015 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - For the fourth-straight game, East Carolina scored double-digit runs cruising past Princeton 11-2 Tuesday evening at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Pirates (14-6) extended their current win streak to five games (9 of last 10), while Princeton falls to 1-10 on the season.
Jimmy Boyd (2-3) picked up his first win in a starting role giving up a pair of runs (both earned) on six hits in a season-high 7.0 innings. The right-hander, who struck out three and walked two, faced the minimum through four frames allowing a single in the second and a walk in the fourth before his defense turned inning ending double plays. Boyd gave up singles in the fifth and sixth before Princeton finally got on the board in the seventh scratching across a pair of runs.
Mason Keen (2 Ks) and Joe Ingle made relief appearances for the Pirates combining to toss two shutout frames on three hits.
Nick Donatiello (0-1) was touched for seven (four earned) on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Chris Giglio surrendered four runs (three earned) with a pair of punch-outs in three frames.
ECU recorded 13 hits on the night for the sixth-straight contest with all nine starters registering at least one base knock. Reid Love, Luke Lowery, Kirk Morgan and Eric Tyler each had a pair of hits, while Travis Watkins drove in a game-high three runs. Bryce Harman (3), Lowery (3) and Tyler combined to score eight of the Pirates 11 runs.
UP NEXT:
ECU and Princeton will conclude the two-game midweek series Wednesday with a 5 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch ... The change in game time was made to accommodate the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT), where the Pirates will play host to Radford. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
How It Happened:
The Pirates scored a pair of runs in the second, five in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take a 9-0 lead before the Tigers plated two in the seventh making it a 9-2 ball game. ECU added two more in the eighth to cap the scoring at 11-2.
Leading 2-0, ECU broke the game open with a five-run fifth using five hits and capitalizing on a pair of Princeton miscues. Hunter Allen and Love laced consecutive singles and Allen took third on a throwing error by Peter Owens in left field. Charlie Yorgen plated the game-winning run with an RBI ground out to short easily scoring Allen for a 3-0 advantage. Harman (single), Tyler (reached on error), Watkins (sac fly) and Morgan (single) plated the other four runs extending ECU's lead to 7-0.
Watkins plated both runs in the sixth with a two-RBI single scoring Harman and Lowery and in the eighth a Giglio wild pitch and a Lowery RBI single accounted for the final two runs, 11-2.
Inside The Box Score:
ECU scored three two-out runs pushing its season total to 62 ... Leadoff hitters reached four times in the contest ... The Pirates were 6-for-13 with RISP and advanced runners at a 65.4 percent clip (17-for-26) ... Boyd faced two over the minimum through six innings allowing three singles and a walk ... Both teams left seven runners on base, while Princeton managed just four hits with runners on (ECU had nine).
Game Notes:
Watkins extended his hit streak to a career-best 11 games (1-for-2) and recorded his third multi-RBI game of the season driving in three runs ... Yorgen extended his streak of reaching base safely to 20 games with a single to right center in the eighth ... Lowery drove in one run (eighth frame) extending his current streak to 12-straight games with at least one RBI ... Currently he is batting .480 on the season with eight home runs, 26 RBI and 17 runs scored - all team highs ... Harman (16 games) and Lowery (15) extended their streaks of reaching base safely, while Allen and Brooks saw their hit streaks reaching nine games on the year ... Since starting the season 0-3, ECU has won 14 of its last 17 games.
