Saturday, March 9
Lynchburg, Va.
6:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
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Liberty
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East Carolina
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Liberty
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No. 11 ECU Rallies Past Liberty To Clinch Road Series
March 09, 2024 | Baseball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – No. 11 East Carolina erased a three-run deficit in the middle innings and held Liberty scoreless over the final five frames Saturday night, picking up a 5-3 victory to clinch its fourth winning weekend of the season at Worthington Field inside Liberty Baseball Stadium.
The Flames (5-9) enjoyed a 9-7 advantage in the hit column, but a three spot by the Pirates (9-4) in the sixth inning tied the contest and set the stage for the comeback.
Danny Beal (1-1) collected his first victory of the campaign in relief, tossing 1.2 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts. Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman locked down the final 2.1 innings, limiting Liberty to two hits and a walk while fanning five to notch his first save of the year. Zach Root did a nice job keeping ECU within reach after allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. He also registered seven strikeouts. Nick Moran (0-2) took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and Ryan McCrystal both logged two-hit performances and drove in a run each. Noah Rabon and Brian McClellin paced the Flames' offense with two doubles apiece.
Liberty raced out to an early lead in the bottom of the first when Kane Kepley and Rabon posted a single and double respectively to lead off the half inning before Aidan Sweatt plated Kepley with a sacrifice bunt. Root was able to strike out Cam Foster swinging though to limit the Flames to just the single run.
After Liberty recorded single tallies in the second and fourth innings to stretch its lead to 3-0, the Pirates responded with three in the top of the sixth to make it a brand-new game. Ryley Johnson led off with a walk and advanced to second thanks to a Carter Cunningham single to center. With one away, Jenkins-Cowart shot an RBI single up the middle to put East Carolina on the board and Bristol Carter followed with a run-scoring single of his own to slice the Pirate deficit to one. Jenkins-Cowart would later score on a balk to tie things up at three.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Joey Berini laced a single through the left side and eventually scored on a throwing error to propel ECU in front 4-3 – a lead the Pirates would not relinquish. Though the Flames put runners on first and second in the home half of the frame, Lunsford-Shenkman left them there via an inning-ending strikeout. Liberty threatened once more in the bottom of the eighth when McClellin registered a one-out double, but Lunsford-Shenkman was there once more as he terminated the rally with consecutive strikeouts.
McCrystal afforded the Pirates some insurance in the top of the ninth with his first home run of the season, pounding a 2-0 offering well over the wall in right field to make it a 5-3 game. The home side put some traffic on the base paths in the bottom of the inning, getting the tying run on base, but Lunsford-Shenkman slammed the door shut by inducing a fly ball to right for the final out.
The Flames (5-9) enjoyed a 9-7 advantage in the hit column, but a three spot by the Pirates (9-4) in the sixth inning tied the contest and set the stage for the comeback.
Danny Beal (1-1) collected his first victory of the campaign in relief, tossing 1.2 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts. Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman locked down the final 2.1 innings, limiting Liberty to two hits and a walk while fanning five to notch his first save of the year. Zach Root did a nice job keeping ECU within reach after allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. He also registered seven strikeouts. Nick Moran (0-2) took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and Ryan McCrystal both logged two-hit performances and drove in a run each. Noah Rabon and Brian McClellin paced the Flames' offense with two doubles apiece.
Liberty raced out to an early lead in the bottom of the first when Kane Kepley and Rabon posted a single and double respectively to lead off the half inning before Aidan Sweatt plated Kepley with a sacrifice bunt. Root was able to strike out Cam Foster swinging though to limit the Flames to just the single run.
After Liberty recorded single tallies in the second and fourth innings to stretch its lead to 3-0, the Pirates responded with three in the top of the sixth to make it a brand-new game. Ryley Johnson led off with a walk and advanced to second thanks to a Carter Cunningham single to center. With one away, Jenkins-Cowart shot an RBI single up the middle to put East Carolina on the board and Bristol Carter followed with a run-scoring single of his own to slice the Pirate deficit to one. Jenkins-Cowart would later score on a balk to tie things up at three.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Joey Berini laced a single through the left side and eventually scored on a throwing error to propel ECU in front 4-3 – a lead the Pirates would not relinquish. Though the Flames put runners on first and second in the home half of the frame, Lunsford-Shenkman left them there via an inning-ending strikeout. Liberty threatened once more in the bottom of the eighth when McClellin registered a one-out double, but Lunsford-Shenkman was there once more as he terminated the rally with consecutive strikeouts.
McCrystal afforded the Pirates some insurance in the top of the ninth with his first home run of the season, pounding a 2-0 offering well over the wall in right field to make it a 5-3 game. The home side put some traffic on the base paths in the bottom of the inning, getting the tying run on base, but Lunsford-Shenkman slammed the door shut by inducing a fly ball to right for the final out.
RYNO insurance bomb 🤟🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/blVOMUvH0t
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 10, 2024
- East Carolina extended its winning streak in the series with Liberty to six games.
- The Pirates improved to 2-3 in true road contests in 2024.
- Cunningham stretched his current hitting streak to 13 games and has registered a base knock in every outing this season.
- The Flames left 10 runners on base and were just 3-for-15 (.200) with runners in scoring position.
- ECU tallied its third come-from-behind win of the campaign.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Beal, Danny (1-1)
L: MORAN, Nick (0-2)
S: Lunsford-Shenkman, Wyatt (1)
Batting:
HR: McCrystal, Ryan 1
RBI: Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob 1 ; Carter, Bristol 1 ; McCrystal, Ryan 1
SH: Carter, Bristol 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnson, Ryley 1 ; Cunningham, Carter 1 ; Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob 1 ; McCrystal, Ryan 1 ; Berini, Joey 1
SB: Wilcoxen, Justin 1
Batting:
2B: RABON, Noah 2 ; MCCLELLIN, Brian 2 ; DYE, Macaddin 1
RBI: SWEATT. Aidan 1 ; DYE, Macaddin 1 ; MARSH, Tanner 1
SH: SWEATT. Aidan 1 ; SIMMONS, John 1
Base Running:
RUNS: KEPLEY, Kane 1 ; MCCLELLIN, Brian 2
SB: KEPLEY, Kane 1
PO: MARSH, Tanner 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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