East Carolina University
44-16
UNC Wilmington
37-22
Top Seed ECU Downs UNCW 16-7 In NCAA Greenville Regional Opener
June 02, 2018 | Baseball
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The Pirates advance to the winners' bracket where they will face No. 2 seed South Carolina Saturday at 5 p.m. The Gamecocks downed No. 3 seed Ohio State 8-3 in the opening game of the regional tournament. The Seahawks and Buckeyes will match up Saturday at 12 noon in an elimination game.
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ECU out-hit UNCW 17-11, scoring at least one run in all but one inning. The Pirates also took advantage of a trio of Seahawk errors.
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Junior infielder Connor Litton went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI to pace a quartet of ECU batters who recorded multiple hits in the contest. Sophomore outfielder Bryant Packard and redshirt sophomore catcher Jake Washer combined for six hits, five runs scored and a RBI. Senior outfielder Drew Henrickson also drove in three runs and scored a pair. Kep Brown led the Seahawks with three hits, two runs scored and three RBI.
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After Pirate starter Chris Holba worked a scoreless inning in the top of the first, Packard led off the home half with a single through the right side. Sophomore infielder Spencer Brickhouse was then hit by a pitch before Washer shot a single up the middle to plate Packard from second. Litton put the exclamation point on the frame with a two-run home run over the right field fence to leave ECU with a 4-0 advantage after one complete.
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UNCW rallied within two in the top of the third when Brown tallied a two-run single to cut the Pirate lead to 5-3. However, ECU answered with three runs on three hits and a pair of sacrifice flies off the bats of freshman infielder Alec Burleson and sophomore infielder Turner Brown to build an 8-3 cushion.
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The Pirate advantage grew to 10-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning when ECU capitalized on a pair of Seahawk defensive miscues to score two runs, but UNCW responded with three in the top of the fifth to remain within shouting distance at 10-6.
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After both squads failed to score in the sixth frame, the Pirates limited the visitors to just one more run the rest of the way and scored three themselves to account for the final nine-run margin of victory.
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ECU Notes:
- Litton belted his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field for his 10th multi-RBI game of the season … Tallied three hits pushing his season total to 18 multi-hit games (third on the team) … Also tied career-high with four RBI …
- Brickhouse extended his hit streak to six games with a single in the fourth … Pushed on-base streak to 30 games when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning …
- Packard registered his team-leading 27th multi-hit game of the year with three hits … Reached base four times on the night (three singles, one walk) …
- Washer tied a career-high with three base knocks and scored three runs …
- ECU's 16 runs were the second-most this season (18 vs. Maryland on March 17) …
- With the win, the Pirates improved to:
- 44-16 on the season (most wins since 2004 through 60 games/49-11) …
- 12-0 when scoring 10 or more runs in a contest …
- 25-2 when collecting 10 or more hits in a game …
- 36-57 in NCAA postseason games …
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ross, Ryan (4-4)
L: Royalty, Alex (6-5)
Batting:
2B: Jeffers, Ryan 1 ; Brown, Kep 1
HR: Brown, Kep 1
RBI: Jeffers, Ryan 3 ; Brown, Kep 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Greg 1 ; Berne, Mason 2 ; Brown, Kep 2 ; Angeli, Doug 1 ; Bridges, Noah 1
HBP: Jones, Greg 1 ; Berne, Mason 1
Batting:
2B: Worrell, Bryson 1 ; Brown, Turner 1
HR: Litton, Connor 1
RBI: Williams-Sutton, Dwanya 1 ; Brickhouse, Spencer 1 ; Worrell, Bryson 1 ; Washer, Jake 1 ; Henrickson, Andrew 3 ; Litton, Connor 4 ; Lloyd, Brady 1 ; Burleson, Alec 1 ; Brown, Turner 1
SH: Henrickson, Andrew 2 ; Lloyd, Brady 1
SF: Brickhouse, Spencer 1 ; Litton, Connor 1 ; Burleson, Alec 1 ; Brown, Turner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Packard, Bryant 2 ; Baker, Dusty 1 ; Williams-Sutton, Dwanya 2 ; Brickhouse, Spencer 2 ; Washer, Jake 3 ; Henrickson, Andrew 2 ; Litton, Connor 2 ; Lloyd, Brady 1 ; Brown, Turner 1
SB: Packard, Bryant 1
HBP: Brickhouse, Spencer 1 ; Lloyd, Brady 1
