East Carolina University
VCU
Baseball Drops Series Finale To VCU, 3-2
March 22, 2015 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Virginia Commonwealth scored in the top of the eighth inning on an East Carolina error and walked out of town with a 3-2 series clinching win Sunday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
With the win the Rams improve to 11-10 on the season, while the Pirates fall to 16-8.
Matt Lees (4-0) recorded his second win of the weekend tossing three scoreless frames of relief allowing one hit with three strikeouts. Starter Matt Blanchard surrendered both Pirate runs (earned) in four innings of work giving up one hit, walking five and striking out one. Daniel Concepcion notched his fourth save of the year (second of the series) hurling two shutout frames with a pair of strikeouts and three hits.
Jimmy Boyd (2-5) took the loss in relief, his second of the weekend) allowing one run (unearned) with a walk in one-plus innings. Starter David Lucroy allowed a pair of runs (both earned) on six hits with two walks and one strikeout in 3.2 frames. ECU also used Nick Durazo (2.1 IP, 2 Hs, 3Ks), Luke Bolka (0.1 IP, K), Joe Ingle (0.1 IP) and Reid Love (1.0 IP, K) on the afternoon.
Kirk Morgan led the Pirates with a pair of hits and drove in both runs, while Eric Tyler extended his hit streak to eight games with a single in the eighth. Vimael Machin and Darian Carpenter each had a pair of hits for the Rams, while Machin and Brett Hileman pushed across runs in the game.
UP NEXT:
ECU will play five games next week with a road contest at UNC Wilmington on Tuesday, Mar. 24 (6 p.m.) before returning home to start a seven-game home stand. The Pirates will host High Point on Wednesday, Mar. 25 (6:30 p.m.) before entering American Athletic Conference play with a three-game series against Memphis (Mar. 27-29) and then Tulane (Apr. 2-4).
How It Happened:
With the score tied a two-all in the eighth, VCU plated the game-winning run when Haiden Lamb scored from third on a failed pickoff throw by Watkins giving the Rams a late 3-2 lead. Carpenter walked to start the inning then was lifted for Lamb as a pinch runner. Cody Acker's sac bunt moved Lamb over to second before a stolen base moved him within 90 feet of home.
VCU scored the games first run in the top half of the first on Machin's RBI single through the left side that scored Logan Farrar for a 1-0 lead. Farrar doubled down the right field line to start the inning then took third on Matt Davis' sacrifice before crossing home on Machin's first hit of the game.
ECU tied the game at one on Morgan's RBI ground out that scored Watkins, who led off with a walk. Garrett Brooks followed with another free pass before both runners moved into scoring position on Jackson Mims' sac bunt.
Both teams scored a run in the fourth keeping it a tie contest at two-all. Hileman plated Carpernter with a single up the middle for the Rams and ECU responded with a Morgan single down the right field line pushing across Brooks.
Inside The Box Score:
Three of ECU's five hits came with two outs, while the leadoff batter reached four times ... The Pirates advanced runners at a 31.6 clip (6-for-19) and managed just one hit (1-for-11) with RISP ... Morgan's two-out RBI in the fourth pushed the Pirates season total to 81 ... VCU had four two-out hits, advanced runners nine times (9-for-20) and was 2-for-10 with RISP ... ECU left eight runners on base, while VCU left 10 on base.
Game Notes:
Watkins saw his hit streak end at a career-best 14 games after going 0-for-3 with a walk ... Yorgen's streak of reaching base safely moved to 24 games with a walk in the first inning ... Bryce Harman (20 games), Watkins (16) and Tyler (14) all extended their streaks of reaching base safely ... Luke Lowery's streak was snapped at 18 games reaching base safely and Harman's streak of scoring at least one run in a game stopped at nine ... Since starting the season 0-3, ECU has won 16 of its last 21 games ... Six of ECU's eight losses have come against teams from Virginia - UVA (3), Liberty (1) and VCU (2).
