East Carolina University
Connecticut
ECU Wins Series At UConn In 10 Innings, 4-3
April 19, 2015 | Baseball
STORRS, Conn. - Eric Tyler's sac fly in the top of the 10th inning scoring Garrett Brooks from third lifting East Carolina to a 4-3 series clinching win over UConn Sunday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field.
Evan Voliva (1-0) picked up his first collegiate win facing one-batter in the ninth. Jacob Wolfe tossed a perfect 10th frame getting three ground ball outs to Hunter Allen at short earning his first career save. Starter Reid Love punched out a career-high eight batters over six-plus innings of work where he allowed a run (earned) on six hits with a pair of walks.
Joe Ingle held the Pirates lead in the seventh coming in with the bases loaded and one out retiring Vinny Siena via strikeout and Bobby Melley with a lineout to left field. Jimmy Boyd allowed a pair of runs (both earned) on four hits with a strikeout in 1.2 frames, while Luke Bolka faced just one batter in the ninth issuing a walk.
Nico Darras (2-2) suffered the loss out of the bullpen allowing one run (earned) on a hit with a walk and strikeout in three innings. Starter Jordan Tabakman surrendered three runs (all earned) on six hits with four walks and four punch-outs in six-plus frames. Patrick Ruotolo made his second appearance of the series tossing two-thirds of an inning.
A trio of Pirates in Hunter Allen, Garrett Brooks and Charlie Yorgen each collected a pair of hits, while Luke Lowery added one. Allen and Tyler each drove in a run with the latter being the game-winner. Brooks scored a game-high two runs, while Parker Lamm scored on a wild pitch and Allen stole home.
Aaron Hill, Max McDowell, Jack Sundberg and Willy Yahn had two hits a piece for the Huskies. Siena drove in the game-tying run in the ninth, while Sundberg added an RBI in the seventh.
Up Next:
ECU will return home for five-straight games when it plays host to NC State (Apr. 21/6:30 PM), Duke (Apr. 22/6:30 PM) before jumping back in the AAC action against UCF (Apr. 24-26/6:30 PM/4 PM/11 AM).
How It Happened:
With the game tied at three-all, ECU scored the game-winning run in the top of the 10th on Tyler's sac fly that plated Brooks for a 4-3 advantage. Brooks walked to start the frame and took third on Yorgen's single to right field. Tyler stepped to the plate and lifted a long fly ball to the warning track in left allowing Brooks to stroll home.
UConn knotted the game at three all in the bottom of the ninth plating a pair of runs on a Siena RBI single and a Melley sac fly. Joe Deroche-Duffin's pinch-hit, one-out single to left. Sundberg followed with a double down the left field line putting runners at second and third for Siena, who singled to left pulling the Huskies within one, 3-2. Melley plated Sundberg with a sac fly tying the game at three.
The Huskies were primed to win it in the bottom of the ninth when Max McDowell stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. McDowell singled through the right side and as Siena rounded third, Jeff Nelson double-pumped and fired a rocket to the plate where Travis Watkins applied the tag sending the game to extra innings.
For the fifth-straight game, ECU jumped out to an early lead when Garrett Brooks came home on Hunter Allen's single through the right side. Brooks got things going with a two-out double to right center and strolled home on Allen's second hit of the contest in the top of the fifth for a 1-0 ECU advantage.
ECU added to its lead in the top of the seventh scoring on a wild pitch and a steal of home making it a 3-0 game. With the bases full of Pirates (Allen at first, Brooks at second, Lamm at third) and one out, UConn went to the pen to bring in Nico Darras, who threw a wild pitch during Yorgen's at-bat allowing Lamm to score and move the other runners up 90 feet. After Brooks was thrown out at home on Yorgen's fielder's choice, Allen scored on a delayed steal where Yorgen was out in a run down.
UConn got on the board in the bottom of the seventh when Sundberg reached on an error at short scoring Yahn cutting into ECU's lead, 3-1.
Game Notes:
ECU collected three two-out hits (137 on season) which lead to one two-out runs (103) ... UConn left 11 runners on base compared to seven for ECU ... Allen' extended his hit streak to nine games, while Morgan's was snapped at five with an 0-for-5 performance ... The Pirates turned one double play pushing their season total to 44 ... Today's extra inning affair was the first for ECU this season.
