Friday, April 20
Memphis, Tenn.
7:30 P.M.
East Carolina University
28-9, 6-4
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Memphis
13-26, 1-9
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ECU
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Memphis
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No. 11 ECU Wins Series Opener At Memphis, 5-1
April 21, 2018 | Baseball
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Chris Holba allowed one run over 7.1 innings earning his nation and league-leading ninth win helping No. 11 ECU to an American Athletic Conference 5-1 series opening win at Memphis Friday night inside FedExPark. With the win the Pirates improve to 28-9 overall and 6-4 in league play, while the Tigers drop to 13-26 on the season and 1-9 in conference action.
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How It Happened:
ECU scored the game's first run in the fourth when Spencer Brickhouse darted home on an Alex Hicks wild pitch. Brickhouse singled to start the frame, took second on Jake Washer's walk and third on Andrew Henrickson's walk before coming home during Dwanya Williams-Sutton's at-bat. Memphis knotted the game at one-all in the home half of the fourth with a two-out single from Nick Vaage. With two away, the Tigers registered three consecutive two-out base knocks getting one each from Colton Neel, Kyle Oullette and Vaage with the last one plating Neal. The Pirates responded with three in the fifth on three hits and a pair of Tiger errors taking a 4-1 lead. Jake Washer singled to center and advanced to second scoring Brady Lloyd for the game-winning run. Connor Litton followed with a base hit to left plating Washer for the second run of the stanza. Bryant Packard's RBI single in the eighth capped the scoring at 5-1 when he sent a shot through the left side pushing across Dwanya Williams-Sutton.
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Godwin's Take:
"I thought Chris Holba pitched very well tonight for us as did Davis and Zach. Offensively I thought we were very average to be honest. We did enough to score some runs on getting big two-out RBI hits by Washer and Packard along with Brady Lloyd's aggressive base running that gave us a run. Just thought we were okay offensively with a lot of soft contact and don't know if we were as focused as we needed to be, but we did enough to win."
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Pirate Pitchers:
Holba (9-0) tied a career-high working 7.1 innings in the win. The right-hander scattered seven hits in his outing allowing just one run (earned) while issuing one free pass and striking out four. Davis Kirkpatrick allowed one hit in two-thirds of an inning and Zach Barnes tossed a perfect ninth getting three-straight ground outs.
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Tigers Staff:
Alex Hicks (2-7) took the loss surrendering five runs (two earned) on nine hits with three walks and three punch outs over 7.2 frames. Alex Smith gave up just one hit and had four strikeouts in his 1.1 innings.
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ECU Bats:
The Pirates pounded out 10 hits on the night getting multiple base knocks from Williams-Sutton (3) and Litton (2). Litton, Packard and Washer each drove in a run, while five different players crossed home.
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Player-of-the-Game:
Holba worked into the eighth inning for the fourth time this season and tallied his team-leading seventh quality start in 10 outings … He improved to 9-0 on the season and 16-3 in his career.
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Things To Know:
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How It Happened:
ECU scored the game's first run in the fourth when Spencer Brickhouse darted home on an Alex Hicks wild pitch. Brickhouse singled to start the frame, took second on Jake Washer's walk and third on Andrew Henrickson's walk before coming home during Dwanya Williams-Sutton's at-bat. Memphis knotted the game at one-all in the home half of the fourth with a two-out single from Nick Vaage. With two away, the Tigers registered three consecutive two-out base knocks getting one each from Colton Neel, Kyle Oullette and Vaage with the last one plating Neal. The Pirates responded with three in the fifth on three hits and a pair of Tiger errors taking a 4-1 lead. Jake Washer singled to center and advanced to second scoring Brady Lloyd for the game-winning run. Connor Litton followed with a base hit to left plating Washer for the second run of the stanza. Bryant Packard's RBI single in the eighth capped the scoring at 5-1 when he sent a shot through the left side pushing across Dwanya Williams-Sutton.
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Godwin's Take:
"I thought Chris Holba pitched very well tonight for us as did Davis and Zach. Offensively I thought we were very average to be honest. We did enough to score some runs on getting big two-out RBI hits by Washer and Packard along with Brady Lloyd's aggressive base running that gave us a run. Just thought we were okay offensively with a lot of soft contact and don't know if we were as focused as we needed to be, but we did enough to win."
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Pirate Pitchers:
Holba (9-0) tied a career-high working 7.1 innings in the win. The right-hander scattered seven hits in his outing allowing just one run (earned) while issuing one free pass and striking out four. Davis Kirkpatrick allowed one hit in two-thirds of an inning and Zach Barnes tossed a perfect ninth getting three-straight ground outs.
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Tigers Staff:
Alex Hicks (2-7) took the loss surrendering five runs (two earned) on nine hits with three walks and three punch outs over 7.2 frames. Alex Smith gave up just one hit and had four strikeouts in his 1.1 innings.
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ECU Bats:
The Pirates pounded out 10 hits on the night getting multiple base knocks from Williams-Sutton (3) and Litton (2). Litton, Packard and Washer each drove in a run, while five different players crossed home.
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Player-of-the-Game:
Holba worked into the eighth inning for the fourth time this season and tallied his team-leading seventh quality start in 10 outings … He improved to 9-0 on the season and 16-3 in his career.
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Things To Know:
- ECU improved to 12-2 in true road games this season …
- The Pirates pushed their mark to 17-2 when producing double-digit hits …
- Packard extended his current hit streak to 15 games, which is tied for 15 all-time in program history … He also moved his on-base streak to a personal-best 20 games with a walk in the seventh …
- Washer's hit streak moved to a career-long 13 games when he singled in the fifth …
- Drew Henrickson's on-base streak reached a career-best 11 games with a walk in the fourth, however his 10-game hit streak came to an end after going 0-for-3 at the plate …
- Williams-Sutton tallied his seventh multi-hit game of the year going 3-for-4 with a run scored … In the eighth inning, he stole his team-leading 10th base …
- Litton's 2-for-5 night gave him his 13th multi-hit game, which tied Lloyd and Washer for the team lead …
Up Next:
ECU and Memphis will close out the weekend series on Saturday, April 20 with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. (ET).
ECU and Memphis will close out the weekend series on Saturday, April 20 with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. (ET).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holba, Chris (9-0)
L: HICKS, Alex (2-7)
Batting:
RBI: Packard, Bryant 1 ; Washer, Jake 1 ; Litton, Connor 1
SH: Brown, Turner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Packard, Bryant 1 ; Lloyd, Brady 1 ; Brickhouse, Spencer 1 ; Washer, Jake 1 ; Williams-Sutton, Dwanya 1
SB: Packard, Bryant 1 ; Williams-Sutton, Dwanya 1
Batting:
RBI: VAAGE, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: NEEL, Colton 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
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H
3
RBI
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AB
5
R
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H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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