Cincinnati Shuts Out No. 17 ECU, 3-0

Friday, April 29

Greenville, N.C.

6:30 PM

East Carolina University

26-16, 7-6

Cincinnati

21-21, 9-4

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cincinnati	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	3	7	0
East Carolina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1

April 29, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

April 29, 2016

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Andrew Zellner tossed seven scoreless frames allowing five hits leading Cincinnati to a 3-0 shutout over No. 17 East Carolina in game one of a three-game American Athletic Conference series Friday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Bearcats push their record to 21-21 on the season and improve to a league-best 9-4, while the Pirates fall to 26-16 and 7-6 in conference play.

Zellner (6-2) registered three strikeouts, while walking one and induced nine fly ball and nine ground outs to pick up his sixth win of the season. The right-hander allowed just one runner to reach second base, faced just four batters in an inning in six of seven frames and retired the side twice (fourth and sixth). A.J. Kullman recorded his second save of the season tossing two scoreless frames where he allowed three hits with a strikeout and walk.

Evan Kruczynski (5-1) suffered his first loss of the season allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 6.1 innings. For the lefty, it was his 10th quality start of the season. Sam Lanier made his team-leading 21st appearance facing one batter in the seventh (0.1 IP) registering his 19th strikeout. Matt Bridges gave up one run (earned) on two hits in 1.1 innings and Chris Holba tossed a clean ninth with a pair of strikeouts.

ECU out hit Cincinnati eight-to-seven on the night getting two hits each from Eric Tyler and Dwanya Williams-Sutton. Parker Lamm extended his hit streak to four games with a single in the fifth, while Garrett Brooks, Kirk Morgan and Charlie Yorgen each added a base knock.

Connor McVey led the Bearcats with two hits, while five others had one. Ryan Noda and Joey Thomas each drove in a run in the contest, while Vince Augustine, Treg Haberkorn and McVey scored runs.

How It Happened:
Cincinnati took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when McVey scored on a passed ball. With one out, McVey singled up the middle, took second on Woody Wallace's base hit to left and moved to third on a double steal before touching home.

Thomas plated the Bearcats second run of the evening in the seventh extending the lead to 2-0. With one out and runners on first and second, Thomas singled through the right side plating Augustine and chasing Kruczynski from the game.

Noda' sac fly in the eighth pushed Cincinnati's lead to three, 3-0, and capped the scoring on the night. Haberkorn led off with an infield single to second, then moved into scoring position on his 10th stolen base of the year. McVey reached on a bunt single putting runners on the corners and Noda's fly ball to deep center plated the final run.

The Pirates brought the tying run to the plate three times in the ninth inning with Brooks standing on third and Williams-Sutton on second. Kullman got Zack Mozingo to ground out to first, struck out Turner Brown and retired Lamm on a grounder to third to end the game.

Game Notes:
Six of ECU's eight hits came with two outs … ECU had just four runners in scoring position all night with two coming in the final stanza … Tyler recorded his team-leading 16th multi-hit game, while Williams-Sutton pushed his total to 12 with a pair of singles … ECU's leadoff hitter managed to reach base once (ninth inning), while Cincinnati had four leadoff batters reach … The Pirates left 10 runners on base while the Bearcats stranded five - both teams left four runners on in scoring position … ECU was shutout for the third time this season and has scored three or less runs in its last six contests (1.33 pg).

Up Next:
ECU and Cincinnati will return to action on Saturday, April 30 for game two of the series with a 4 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch.