East Carolina Drops Doubleheader At Wichita State

Saturday, April 22

Wichita, Kan.

1:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

29-9, 0

Wichita State

22-15, 0

East Carolina

Wichita State

April 22, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game One Box Score (PDF)Game Two Box Score (PDF)

WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State swept both games of a doubleheader over No. 7 East Carolina Saturday afternoon by scores of 7-0 and 8-3 at Eck Stadium.

The Pirates (29-10, 7-5 AAC) and Shockers (23-15, 7-4 AAC) conclude the series Sunday at 2 p.m.

Game One: Wichita State 7, East Carolina 0
Payton Tolle (7-1) tossed Wichita State's first complete-game shutout since 2017, limiting East Carolina to a pair of hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out 10 Pirate hitters. Trey Yesavage (6-1) was tagged with his first loss of the campaign, surrendering two runs on six hits with a walk and no strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.

Chuck Ingram led all players in the contest with three hits and a home run. Ryan McCrystal and Carter Cunningham provided both of the Pirates' base knocks.

Wichita State put up an early threat in the bottom of the first, getting a pair of runners on base via a single and walk, but Yesavage dug in and induced a pair of fly balls to left and right to complete the frame. The Shockers broke through for a pair of runs in the second, utilizing four hits and an East Carolina error to establish the upper hand.

The home side added to its lead in the third with a two-out RBI infield single off the bat of Jaden Gustafson, making it 3-0. Wichita State continued to excel at two-out hitting in the fourth as Mauricio Millan sent a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate a pair and extend the Shocker advantage to five.

The Pirates produced their biggest offensive chance of the game in the top of the sixth, notching their first two hits of the day, but Tolle was able to tally a strikeout to strand the runners on the corners. A pair of solo home runs by Ingram and Garrett Pennington put more space between the sides before Willie Lumpkin entered and registered a pair of strikeouts to keep the deficit at seven.

ECU was unable to dent the scoreboard in the final few frames as Tolle finished off the shutout.

Game Two: Wichita State 8, East Carolina 3
Despite an early advantage, the Pirates were unable to solve the Shockers for the second-straight affair.

Clark Candiotti (6-2) picked up the win, allowing three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He walked one and struck out six. Carter Spivey (4-2) took the loss, yielding six runs on 11 hits in a five-inning outing.

Ingram tallied three more hits and three RBI in the contest while Tolle followed up his work on the mound with a hit and two runs driven in at the dish. Lane Hoover and Joey Berini rapped out a pair of hits each for the Purple and Gold.

The Pirates jumped on top in the first inning of the nightcap as Jacob Jenkins-Cowart drilled a one-out double to deep center and Josh Moylan drew a walk. Luke Nowak then laced a single down the left field line that allowed Jenkins-Cowart to score easily and put ECU on top 1-0. Ingram knotted things up in the home half of the first with a leadoff solo home run.

Wichita State continued to swing a hot bat in the second, piling up five hits – including a solo homer by David Herring – to plate three runs and move in front, 4-1. Justin Wilcoxen began the top of the fifth with a double to left and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Jenkins-Cowart. East Carolina had the opportunity to cut into the deficit further with Hoover at second and two away, but a groundout to short ended the frame.

The Shockers would put the game away in the sixth, scoring four more times to provide the contest's final margin.

East Carolina fell to 5-7 in true road games.
Wichita State hit .440 (11-for-25) with two outs.
The Pirates dropped to 0-4 when scoring two or less runs in an outing.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart made his return to the lineup in game one after missing the previous six contests due to injury.
ECU dropped to 8-10 all time against the Shockers and 4-6 in Wichita.