East Carolina University
Cincinnati
ECU Takes Series Opener At Cincinnati, 7-3
May 14, 2015 | Baseball
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Garrett Brooks and Eric Tyler each hit home runs while Reid Love picked up his seventh win working seven innings helping East Carolina to a 7-3 series opening win over Cincinnati Thursday night at Marge Schott Stadium.
With the win the Pirates improve to 34-20 overall and 13-9 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Bearcats fall to 15-37 and 6-16.
Love (7-3) picked up the win allowing three runs (all earned) on 11 hits with six strikeouts and no walks. On the season, Love has tallied 68 strikeouts to just nine walks and improved to 5-1 in conference play (seven starts) with the victory. Jimmy Boyd (1 K) and Joe Ingle (1 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks) tossed scoreless innings of relief on the night.
Ryan Atkinson (4-6) took the loss surrendering all seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits with five walk and four strikeouts. Tristan Hammans recorded the final two outs allowing a walk out of the bullpen.
Travis Watkins led the Pirates 10-hit attack going 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and scoring a pair of runs. Brooks, Bryce Harman and Tyler each added a pair of hits, while Brooks also drove in a pair of runs. Both of Harman's base hits went for extra bases (double and triple) to left center. Six different Pirates scored runs, while four tallied all six RBI.
Four Bearcats recorded multiple hits with Ian Happ driving in two of their three runs, which came on a two-run home run in the eighth inning.
Up Next:
The Pirates and Bearcats will continue the series Friday, May 15 at 6 p.m. before concluding the three-game set Saturday, May 16 at 12 Noon.
How It Happened:
Travis Watkins' two-out RBI single that hit off of Atkinson on the mound plated the game's first run in the top of the second giving ECU a 1-0 lead. Kirk Morgan walked with one out and took third on Eric Tyler's base hit back up the middle. Two batters later Watkins' infield single off the arm of Atkinson on the mound allowed Morgan to cross home.
Cincinnati tied the game at one-all in the bottom of the third. Manny Rodriguez double to left field with one out and took third on Kyle Mottice's ground out to first. Treg Haberkorn followed with a single to shallow left easily scoring Rodriguez.
The Pirate regained the lead in the fifth frame plating three runs for a 4-1 advantage. Harman tripled off the wall in left center to start the stanza and trotted home on Watkins' single to left field. Brooks followed with a double to left plating Watkins from first before he was thrown out at second after taking a wide turn at second. With two outs, Charlie Yorgen was hit by a pitch and scored on Love's single to right combined with a fielding error by Manny Rodriguez on a throw to second trying to get Love.
Brooks extended ECU's lead to four, 5-1, on his leadoff home run off the scoreboard in right center to begin the seventh inning.
Tyler's home run to left field highlighted the Pirates two-run eighth which pushed the lead to six, 7-1. Tyler homered to start the inning - his third of the season. Following a long fly out by Harman, Watkins singled through the left side and moved around the bases on walks by Brooks, Hunter Allen and Yorgen's fielder's choice to cap the scoring for ECU.
In the home half of the eighth, Happ belted his 14th home run sending a 1-0 offering over the left field wall scoring Haberkorn ahead of him closing the gap to four, 7-3.
Game Notes/Inside The Box Score
ECU collected three two-out hits pushing its season total to 166, which led to a pair of two-out runs (115 on the year) ... Tyler and Watkins pushed their multi-hit season totals to 15 games, which ties Allen, Luke Lowery and Yorgen for the team lead ... Watkins collected his sixth multi-RBI game, while Brooks tallied his second ... With 10 hits, ECU pushed its record to 20-3 when recorded double-digit base knocks on the season ... They also improved to 16-5 in games where the Pirates hit a home run ... The win pushed ECU's win total to 34 surpassing last year's total.
