East Carolina University
Cincinnati
ECU Tops Cincinnati For Series Win, 6-4
May 16, 2015 | Baseball
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Kirk Morgan collected a career-high four hits, while Garrett Brooks belted his second home run of the series helping East Carolina to a 6-4 win Friday night at Marge Schott Stadium.
With the win the Pirates improve to 35-20 on the season and 14-9 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Bearcats drop to 15-38 and 6-17.
Evan Kruczynski (7-4) got the win allowing two runs (both earned) on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Joe Ingle notched his team-leading fifth save working 1.2 scoreless frames with a walk and a pair of strikeouts. Nick Durazo appeared in his 22nd game giving up two runs (both earned) on one hit without recording an out.
Andrew Zellner (2-4) suffered the loss giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk over seven full innings. Dalton Lehnen surrendered one run (earned) on two hits in 1.1 frames, while Tanner Schimmoeller retired both batters he faced in the ninth.
Morgan went 4-for-5 scoring a pair of runs to lead the Pirates 11-hit attack. Charlie Yorgen posted his team-leading 16th multi-hit game going 2-for-5 with a run, while five others chipped in with one base knock. Brooks hit his third home run of the season (second of the series) with a solo shot in the eighth inning.
Woody Wallace recorded three hits and drove in three of the Bearcats four runs, while Treg Haberkorn added a pair of hits.
Up Next:
Both teams will close out the 2015 regular season Saturday, May 16 with a first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. (ET) ... Game time was moved up due to potential rain in the area later in the afternoon.
How It Happened:
Trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, ECU scored three runs on three hits and capitalized on a Cincinnati error taking a 3-1 lead. Three consecutive singles by Yorgen, Reid Love and Morgan loaded the bases for Luke Lowery to start the frame. Lowery was plunked by a pitch scoring Yorgen, which tied the game at one-all. With the bases still loaded, Eric Tyler flied out to center for the first out. It looked as if Love was going to score on the play but he stopped halfway down the line and Morgan took off for third creating a log jam at the hot corner. A good throw back into the infield by Haberkorn was cut off by Ryan Noda, who tried to make a play at third but threw the ball away allowing Love and Morgan to score for a 3-1 advantage.
Wallace staked Cincinnati to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning singling home Wenzel from third. Wenzel laced a one-out double to left center and took third on Chris Klenk's ground out to short before crossing home on Wallace's shot to left center.
ECU plated a pair of runs in the sixth extending its lead to four, 5-1. Morgan led off the stanza with a single to right and advanced to third on Lowery's double to left center. Tyler plated the first run on a sac fly scoring Morgan and moving Lowery to third. Two batters later Travis Watkins' double to right center easily pushing across Lowery.
Brooks smacked his second home run of the series with two outs in the eighth pushing the Pirates lead to five, 6-1.
Cincinnati made the things interesting in the home half of the eighth scoring three runs to pull within two, 6-4. With the bases loaded and staring at the Pirates bullpen, Wenzel grounded out to Ingle which allowed Haberkorn to score. Hunter Losekamp followed with walk to re-load the bases before Wallace singled back up the middle plating Noda and R.J. Thompson.
Game Notes/Inside The Box Score
The Pirates recorded a pair of two out hits pushing their season total to 168, which accounted for two runs (117 on the year) ... With the win, Godwin becomes the only first-year head coach in school history to win 35 games in his inaugural season as the Pirates skipper ... Morgan's four-hit game (career-high) was the sixth of the season (Lowery/2, Love/2, Watkins/1) for ECU ... ECU improved to 17-5 when a Pirate hits a home run and 21-3 when reaching double-digit hits ... Ingle's fifth save moves him into a tie for second place with Mike Flye (2004) on the freshman pitching record book - Greg Bunn (7) holds the freshman record.
