Boston College Edges ECU In 1-0 Pitchers’ Duel

Saturday, February 23

Greenville, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

8-2

Boston College

3-6

Boston College

ECU

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

February 23, 2019 | Softball

Box Score

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU received a gem of a pitching effort from sophomore Erin Poepping Saturday evening but could not push a run across as Boston College slipped out of the ECU Softball Stadium with a 1-0 victory to open the Pirate Clash.

ECU out-hit the visiting Eagles 4-2 but went just 1-for-11 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates also committed three errors. All six hits in the contest were singles.

Poepping (6-1) tossed her fifth complete game of the season, surrendering just one run on two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. Susannah Anderson (1-1) also went the distance, completing the shutout by scattering four hits while walking two batters and striking out four.

Senior Ashley Weingartz was one of four ECU players to notch a hit while also contributing eight putouts behind the plate. Ellie Mataya paced Boston College with a hit and a run driven in.

Both teams went relatively quietly in the first two innings before the Eagles broke onto the scoreboard in the top of the third. Maddison Hamilton singled to left field and Jules Trevino drew a walk to begin the frame. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a base, Mataya hit a grounder to first base and Tate McClellan's throw was just high enough to allow Hamilton to slide under the tag. Poepping recovered with a fly ball to left and a strikeout to prevent further damage.

The Pirates threatened to tie the game or even take the lead in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with one out following consecutive singles by Rachel McCollum and Weingartz and a pinch hit walk from Morgan Halo. A fielder's choice and a strikeout terminated the threat, however.

After Poepping stranded a pair of Boston College runners on base in the top of the sixth, pinch hitter Pearson Yopp dropped a two-out single into right center in the bottom of the seventh but a grounder to third would end the contest.

ECU is back in action Sunday with a pair of games. The Pirates will take on the Eagles again at 11:30 a.m. before facing off with No. 18 JMU at 2 p.m. Boston College and the Dukes begin the day with a game at 9 a.m.