ECU Takes Series With Doubleheader Sweep Of UAB

Friday, March 29

Greenville, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

18-6, 2-2

UAB

12-13, 1-3

UAB

East Carolina

March 29, 2024 | Baseball

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

GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 15 East Carolina clinched its first American Athletic Conference series of the season Friday with a doubleheader sweep of UAB inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates downed the Blazers 6-2 in game one before winning a 4-3 decision in the nightcap.

ECU (19-6, 3-2 AAC) used a pair of quality starts from Trey Yesavage and Zach Root and allowed UAB (12-14, 1-4 AAC) to score in just three innings over the two contests.

Game One: East Carolina 6, UAB 2
Trey Yesavage (5-1) tossed 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing the Pirates to make an early first-inning run stand. He scattered five hits and fanned nine batters in the win. East Carolina gave Blazer starter Blayze Berry (2-1) his first loss of the campaign, touching him up for four runs (two earned) on six hits. Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman collected his second save of the season with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Dixon Williams posted two hits and notched an RBI while Bristol Carter scored a pair of runs and drove in one. Joey Berini also finished with two RBI. Nick Hollifield led the visitors with two hits and a run scored.

After Yesavage struck out the side in the top of the first, East Carolina cashed in a Ryley Johnson leadoff walk as he moved to second on a groundout and eventually scored via a Jacob Jenkins-Cowart RBI single.

Both starters settled in over the next several innings before the Pirates struck for a three spot in the bottom of the sixth. Jacob Starling and Ryan McCrystal singled to lead off the frame before a throwing error allowed Starling to score from third and extend the ECU advantage to 2-0. Following a Wilcoxen sacrifice bunt, Berini laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt that plated both Carter and McCrystal to make it 4-0.

UAB would slice its deficit in half in the top of the seventh but a Starling sacrifice fly in the home half of the inning extended the Pirate lead back to three. Williams added an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to account for the final score before Lunsford-Shenkman worked a clean ninth to seal the win.

Won the series, but have more work to do💪#PIRATES pic.twitter.com/FUtqUbrDO3
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2024

Game Two: East Carolina 4, UAB 3
Root (4-0) remained unbeaten on the bump, surrendering just two earned runs and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts, before Jake Hunter covered the final two frames to register his first save of the year. Braxton Shelton (1-3) was saddled with the loss as he gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits with two walks and no strikeouts.

McCrystal and Carter both accounted for a hit and RBI while Tyler Waugh rapped out two hits and scored a run for the Blazers.

UAB struck first in the top of the second. Waugh reached on a leadoff infield single before Brayton Brown worked a four-pitch walk. Reed Latimer then drew a one-out free pass to load the bases and Tyler Harrington put his team on top with an RBI on a fielder's choice force out.

Carter and Wilcoxen singled with two outs in the bottom of the second before an error in the outfield allowed Carter to scamper home and knot the score at one. McCrystal put the Purple and Gold on top in the bottom of the third, scoring Jenkins-Cowart with a two-out RBI single.

The Blazers retook the upper hand in the top of the fifth. A Latimer leadoff walk and Peyton Puckett double down the right field line gave UAB a pair of runners in scoring position and Darryl Buggs delivered with a run-scoring bunt before a two-out error on the infield permitted Puckett to cross home and push his team in front 3-2.

Jenkins-Cowart and Starling put ECU in business in the bottom of the fifth with consecutive leadoff singles and the Pirates capitalized to snatch lead back after a McCrystal fly ball advanced both runners into scoring position and Carter came up with an RBI groundout to tie the contest. A fielding error then scored Starling from third to give East Carolina an advantage it would not relinquish.

Root and Hunter held the Blazers off the scoreboard in the final four innings as Hunter surrendered just one runner who was erased on a double play in the eighth.

East Carolina improved to 12-1 inside Clark-LeClair Stadium and is 41-6 at the friendly confines since the start of the 2023 campaign.
The Pirates are now 30-5 in the all-time series with UAB and have defeated the Blazers in 10-straight games.
ECU put five of eight leadoff batters on base in game one while going 3-for-3 with a runner on third and less than two outs.
The Pirates have swept four doubleheaders since the beginning of the 2023 season.
East Carolina turned three double plays over the two games and allowed just one extra base hit.

Up Next: ECU seeks its fourth sweep of the season Saturday when it hosts UAB in the series finale at Noon.