Friday, March 8
Lynchburg, Va.
4:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
8-4
9
at
5
Liberty
5-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
East Carolina
0
0
1
0
2
1
0
5
0
9
9
0
Liberty
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
4
5
7
0
No. 11 East Carolina Wins Series Opener In Lynchburg
March 08, 2024 | Baseball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Carter Cunningham drove in a career-high five runs and Trey Yesavage turned in another sparking start on the mound to lift No. 11 East Carolina past Liberty 9-5 Friday night in the teams' series opener at the Liberty Baseball Stadium.
The Pirates (8-4) jumped out to an early lead and never trailed, sending the Flames (5-8) to their fifth-straight loss.
Yesavage (3-0) allowed just one run on three hits and struck out nine in 6.0 innings of work to earn his third victory of the campaign. Cole Hertzler (1-2) was tagged with the loss as he surrendered four runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Cunningham extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 3-for-5 performance. Bristol Carter also collected a trio of hits, including a double and triple, to end his evening with two runs scored and an RBI. Macaddin Dye paced the home side with two hits and a pair of RBI.
Liberty put up the initial offensive threat in the bottom of the first as Kepley beat out a throw to first for a leadoff infield single and moved to second on a groundout. Yesavage kept the Flames at bay though, producing a looking strikeout and inducing a 6-3 putout.
ECU broke through in the top of the third. Carter laced a double down the left field line to lead things off before moving to third on a Joey Berini sacrifice bunt. Ryley Johnson followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. East Carolina added two in the top of the fifth thanks to a Cunningham two-run double that scored Berini and Johnson from first and second.
Pinch hitter Colby Wallace drew a walk to begin the top of the sixth and advanced into scoring position after a Justin Wilcoxen sacrifice bunt. With two away, Carter ripped a 0-1 offering to the wall in center for an RBI triple that put the (powder) Purple and Gold ahead 4-0.
Aidan Sweatt provided Liberty's first run of the contest via a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, but East Carolina exploded for a five spot in the top of the eighth to pull away. After the Pirates loaded the bases with a Wilcoxen single, Dixon Williams walk and Carter hit by pitch, Berini worked a four-pitch walk to score Wilcoxen and Johnson was hit by a pitch to extend the ECU advantage to 6-1. Cunningham provided the knockout blow by finding the left center gap for a bases-clearing double that left the Pirates with a 9-1 cushion heading to the home half of the frame.
The Flames were able to rev up their offense in the bottom of the ninth, scoring four runs to slice their deficit to four, but Jackson DiLorenzo put out the fire by fanning Tanner Marsh and inducing a foul out to terminate any further threat.
The Pirates (8-4) jumped out to an early lead and never trailed, sending the Flames (5-8) to their fifth-straight loss.
Yesavage (3-0) allowed just one run on three hits and struck out nine in 6.0 innings of work to earn his third victory of the campaign. Cole Hertzler (1-2) was tagged with the loss as he surrendered four runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Cunningham extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 3-for-5 performance. Bristol Carter also collected a trio of hits, including a double and triple, to end his evening with two runs scored and an RBI. Macaddin Dye paced the home side with two hits and a pair of RBI.
What @cartercunnin is doing at the plate is not talked about nearly enough 🤟🏼🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/U5rJPyUa15
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 8, 2024
Liberty put up the initial offensive threat in the bottom of the first as Kepley beat out a throw to first for a leadoff infield single and moved to second on a groundout. Yesavage kept the Flames at bay though, producing a looking strikeout and inducing a 6-3 putout.
ECU broke through in the top of the third. Carter laced a double down the left field line to lead things off before moving to third on a Joey Berini sacrifice bunt. Ryley Johnson followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead. East Carolina added two in the top of the fifth thanks to a Cunningham two-run double that scored Berini and Johnson from first and second.
Pinch hitter Colby Wallace drew a walk to begin the top of the sixth and advanced into scoring position after a Justin Wilcoxen sacrifice bunt. With two away, Carter ripped a 0-1 offering to the wall in center for an RBI triple that put the (powder) Purple and Gold ahead 4-0.
Aidan Sweatt provided Liberty's first run of the contest via a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, but East Carolina exploded for a five spot in the top of the eighth to pull away. After the Pirates loaded the bases with a Wilcoxen single, Dixon Williams walk and Carter hit by pitch, Berini worked a four-pitch walk to score Wilcoxen and Johnson was hit by a pitch to extend the ECU advantage to 6-1. Cunningham provided the knockout blow by finding the left center gap for a bases-clearing double that left the Pirates with a 9-1 cushion heading to the home half of the frame.
The Flames were able to rev up their offense in the bottom of the ninth, scoring four runs to slice their deficit to four, but Jackson DiLorenzo put out the fire by fanning Tanner Marsh and inducing a foul out to terminate any further threat.
- East Carolina captured its first true road win of the season.
- Cunningham's five RBI are the most for a Pirate since Jacob Starling drove in five against South Florida in the AAC Baseball Championship back on May 27, 2023.
- The ECU pitching staff struck out double-digit batters for the 10th time this year.
- The Pirates went 4-for-4 with a runner on third and less than two outs.
- East Carolina went error free for the eighth time in 12 games to start the season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yesavage, Trey (3-0)
L: HERTZLER, Cole (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Cunningham, Carter 2 ; Carter, Bristol 1
3B: Carter, Bristol 1
RBI: Johnson, Ryley 2 ; Cunningham, Carter 5 ; Carter, Bristol 1 ; Berini, Joey 1
SH: Wilcoxen, Justin 1 ; Berini, Joey 1
SF: Johnson, Ryley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnson, Ryley 2 ; Wallace, Colby 1 ; Wilcoxen, Justin 1 ; Williams, Dixon 1 ; Carter, Bristol 2 ; Berini, Joey 2
SB: Johnson, Ryley 1
HBP: Johnson, Ryley 2 ; Carter, Bristol 1
Batting:
RBI: SWEATT. Aidan 1 ; MCCLELLIN, Brian 2 ; DYE, Macaddin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: KEPLEY, Kane 1 ; TROYER, Camden 1 ; FOSTER, Cam 1 ; SIMMONS, John 1 ; MCCLELLIN, Brian 1
SB: KEPLEY, Kane 1
PO: SIMMONS, John 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
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AB
5
R
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H
3
RBI
5
lf/cf
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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