East Carolina University
Houston
ECU Falls At No. 21 Houston, 10-1
May 08, 2015 | Baseball
HOUSTON, Texas - Hunter Allen and Eric Tyler recorded five of East Carolina's eight hits, but that wasn't enough as the Pirates fell to No. 21 Houston 10-1 Friday night in an American Athletic Conference showdown between the co-leaders at Cougar Field.
With the win the Cougars improve to 34-16 on the season and take sole possession of first place in the league with a 12-7 ledger. The Pirates fall to 31-19 overall, 11-8 in league play and are now tied with USF for second place in the standings.
Andrew Lantrip (7-3) picked up the win recording nine strikeouts in eight innings of work where he allowed one run (earned) on eight hits. The right-hander fanned multiple batters in the first, second, fourth and eight innings, while striking out one in the sixth to account for all nine punch-outs. Aaron Fletcher worked a perfect ninth getting a fly out, ground out and strikeout in the Cougars victory.
Evan Kruczynski (6-4) suffered the loss working 5.1 innings where he allowed five runs (all earned) on six hits with four walks and a pair of strikeouts. David Lucroy gave up a run (earned) on two hits with a walk in 1.2 innings of relief work, while Jimmy Boyd was touched for four runs (all earned) on five hits in one inning out of the bullpen.
Houston's 10-hit outburst was highlighted by Corey Julks three-hit performance on the night. Chris Iriart, Ian Rice and Josh Vidales each added a pair of hits, while four others chipped in with a base knock apiece. Half of the Cougars 10 hits went for extra bases with Connor Wong delivering a two-run shot in the sixth inning.
Allen recorded his third-straight three-hit game pushing his season total to a team-high 56 base knocks. Tyler added a pair of hits, while Luke Lowery, Travis Watkins and Charlie Yorgen had one each. Lowery scored the Pirates lone run on his 10th homer of the season, which came in the sixth inning.
Up Next:
ECU and Houston will continue the three-game series Saturday, May 9 with a 5 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network ... The final game of the series will be played Sunday, May 10 at 1 p.m. (ET).
How It Happened:
The Cougars scored at least one run in five of the eight innings where they batted posting multiple runs in the second (2), sixth (2) and eighth (4) frames to take the series opener.
Houston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on Ashford Fulmer's two-out double to right center. Julks led off the frame with a double to left field but was put out at third on Wong's fielder's choice back to the pitcher. Rice followed with a walk putting runners at first and second with one out before Kruczynski retired Justin Montemayor swinging. Fulmer stepped to the plate sending a shot to left plating both runners for an early lead.
Iriart extended the Cougars lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out double to left center. Josh Vidales drew a two-out walk and easily scored on Iriart's 57th base hit of the season.
Lowery got ECU on the board in the top of the sixth inning belting his team-leading 10th home run of the season over the left field wall, 3-1.
But in the home half of the sixth, Wong got the run back and more with a two-run shot over the left field wall scoring Julks in front of him for a 5-1 Houston advantage.
Houston would go on to plate a run in the seventh and four in the eighth to cap the scoring at 10-1.
Game Notes/ Inside the Box Score:
Houston recorded four two-out hits which lead to four runs, while ECU had three hits (158 on season) that resulted in its lone run (111 on year) ... Hunter Allen pushed his multi-hit season total to 14, while Eric Tyler's moved to 13 ... Charlie Yorgen extended his streak of reaching base to eight games with a bunt single in the first frame ... His bunt for a base hit was the 28th on the year for the Pirates ... With his solo blast in the sixth, Lowery now has 18 career home runs ... Allen has recorded at least one hit in 21 of his last 24 games including 10 multi-hit contests ... With the loss, ECU falls to 3-5 against nationally ranked teams.
