Friday, March 22
San Antonio, Texas
7:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
15-5, 0-1
2
at
4
UTSA
11-11, 1-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
East Carolina
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
2
10
0
UTSA
1
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
X
4
9
1
East Carolina Drops AAC Opener At UTSA, 4-2
March 22, 2024 | Baseball
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – No. 10 East Carolina dropped a 4-2 decision to host UTSA in its American Athletic Conference opener Friday evening at Roadrunner Field.
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The Pirates (15-5, 0-1 AAC) saw an eight-game winning stream come to an end while the Roadrunners (11-11, 1-0 AAC) emerged victorious in their first-ever AAC contest.
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Robert Orloski (3-2) picked up the win by limiting East Carolina to one run on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Trey Yesavage (4-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering four runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Ruger Riojas notched the save by tossing three frames of one-run baseball with four strikeouts.
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Mason Lytle paced the home side with two hits and two runs scored. Ryan McCrystal led all players with three hits while also driving in a run. Dixon Williams and Bristol Carter also finished with multi-hit performances, registering a pair of base knocks each.
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UTSA put up the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first as three-straight singles resulted in Lytle crossing home to put his team ahead 1-0. ECU attempted a response in the top of the third when Williams led off with a single through the left side and Ryley Johnson laid down a nice bunt for an infield base knock. Carter Cunningham would reach on a fielder's choice to advance Williams to third, but the Pirates were unable to push him across.
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The Roadrunners added on to their lead in the bottom of the third with another three hits. A single and a walk to begin the frame put UTSA on the front foot and the home team capitalized with another two singles and a squeeze bunt that extended the advantage to 4-0.
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East Carolina chipped away at the deficit in the sixth, utilizing a leadoff single by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart to spark a rally. A pair of groundouts pushed him third before Carter flared a base hit into shallow right field to put the Pirates on the board and make it a 4-1 contest.
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With Ethan Norby keeping ECU close with what ended up being a three scoreless inning outing, Jenkins-Cowart would reach on an error to begin the eighth frame and Starling followed by drawing a walk. After a pair of strikeouts, Ryan McCrystal laced an RBI single down the right field line to plate Jenkins-Cowart and slice the Pirate deficit to 4-2.
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Norby retired the Roadrunners in order in the bottom of the eighth, leaving East Carolina one last chance. Riojas completed the save, however, answering with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.
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The Pirates (15-5, 0-1 AAC) saw an eight-game winning stream come to an end while the Roadrunners (11-11, 1-0 AAC) emerged victorious in their first-ever AAC contest.
Â
Robert Orloski (3-2) picked up the win by limiting East Carolina to one run on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Trey Yesavage (4-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering four runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Ruger Riojas notched the save by tossing three frames of one-run baseball with four strikeouts.
Â
Mason Lytle paced the home side with two hits and two runs scored. Ryan McCrystal led all players with three hits while also driving in a run. Dixon Williams and Bristol Carter also finished with multi-hit performances, registering a pair of base knocks each.
Â
UTSA put up the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first as three-straight singles resulted in Lytle crossing home to put his team ahead 1-0. ECU attempted a response in the top of the third when Williams led off with a single through the left side and Ryley Johnson laid down a nice bunt for an infield base knock. Carter Cunningham would reach on a fielder's choice to advance Williams to third, but the Pirates were unable to push him across.
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The Roadrunners added on to their lead in the bottom of the third with another three hits. A single and a walk to begin the frame put UTSA on the front foot and the home team capitalized with another two singles and a squeeze bunt that extended the advantage to 4-0.
Â
East Carolina chipped away at the deficit in the sixth, utilizing a leadoff single by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart to spark a rally. A pair of groundouts pushed him third before Carter flared a base hit into shallow right field to put the Pirates on the board and make it a 4-1 contest.
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With Ethan Norby keeping ECU close with what ended up being a three scoreless inning outing, Jenkins-Cowart would reach on an error to begin the eighth frame and Starling followed by drawing a walk. After a pair of strikeouts, Ryan McCrystal laced an RBI single down the right field line to plate Jenkins-Cowart and slice the Pirate deficit to 4-2.
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Norby retired the Roadrunners in order in the bottom of the eighth, leaving East Carolina one last chance. Riojas completed the save, however, answering with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.
- ECU dropped its league opener for the third-straight season.
- The Pirates moved to 5-4 in true road games this campaign.
- The top two offenses in the conference by batting average combined for 19 hits of which none went for extra bases.
- East Carolina left nine runners on base and was 2-for-12 (.167) with runners in scoring position.
- Cunningham did not record a hit for the first time this season.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Orloski (3-2)
L: Yesavage, Trey (4-1)
S: Riojas (2)
Batting:
RBI: Carter, Bristol 1 ; McCrystal, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob 2
Batting:
RBI: King 1 ; Parmer 1 ; Taussig 1 ; Odom 1
SH: King 1 ; Odom 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lytle 2 ; Olivo 1 ; Parmer 1
CS: Smith, D. 1 ; Parmer 1
HBP: Parmer 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
OF/1B
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
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