ECU Advances To Championship Game Sunday

Saturday, May 28

Clearwater, Fla.

9:00 A.M.

East Carolina University

41-18

Tulane

33-26-1

Tulane

East Carolina

Photo by: Pete Wright

May 28, 2022 | Baseball

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CLEARWATER, Fla. – After falling behind 4-0, No. 23 East Carolina stormed back to defeat Tulane, 8-5, on the semifinal day of the 2022 TicketSmarter American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Saturday at BayCare Ballpark.

With the win, East Carolina (41-18) increased its nation-leading win streak to 17 and advanced to the Championship game against Houston or UCF on Sunday, May 29 at 12 noon (ET) on ESPNews. It will be the Pirates' fourth trip to the Championship game (2-1 in Championship games).

The Green Wave (33-26-1) struck early as Bennett Lee and Luis Aviles hit back-to-back home runs to start off the game. Brady Herbert singled home Teo Banks to make it 3-0 in the first, while Brennan Lambert hit his second home run of the season in the second to give Tulane a 4-0 lead.

East Carolina got on the board in the third as Zach Agnos hit his seventh home run of the season and the Pirates tied the game in the fourth with three runs, including RBI hits by Josh Moylan and Joey Berini. Ben Newton gave East Carolina the lead with a two-run double in the fifth.

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart made an incredible diving catch in right field to end the top of the seventh and then stepped up and hit a deep two-run home run to right in the bottom of the inning, his 11th of the season, to extend ECU's lead to 8-4.

The Green Wave loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Aviles lined out to third before Banks walked to score Gavin Schulz. Garrett Saylor came on to pitch for ECU and struck out Simon Baumgardt to end the game for his fifth save of the season.

Offensively, the Pirates tallied nine hits getting two each from Jenkins-Cowart and Bryson Worrell. Five others added one a piece, while Jenkins-Cowart and Newton plated two runs. Jenkins-Cowart also scored a team-high three runs on the afternoon.

American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Carter Spivey (7-0) earned the win, pitching 4.1 innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts. Brian Valigosky took the loss, allowing three runs in two innings of work.