Wednesday, April 10
Greenville, N.C.
6:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
25-7
7
vs
5
Old Dominion
16-16
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Old Dominion
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
10
1
East Carolina
3
1
0
0
1
0
2
0
X
7
10
0
No. 9 ECU Grinds Out 7-5 Win Over Old Dominion
April 10, 2024 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Freshman LHP Ethan Norby turned in the finest relief outing of his young career in the Purple and Gold Wednesday evening as No. 9 East Carolina defeated Old Dominion 7-5 at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium to earn a split of the season series.
The Pirates (25-7) faced a two-run deficit in the first inning, but quickly took the lead in the home half of the frame before holding the Monarchs (16-16) to just one run after the second inning.
Norby (2-0) registered career-high marks in innings pitched (4.2) and strikeouts (10) while scattering three hits and surrendering just one earned run. Lincoln Ransom (1-2) was saddled with the loss after he was charged with the go-ahead run in 1.2 frames of work.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart led a trio of ECU batters that recorded two hits apiece as he finished the contest with three runs scored and three RBI in addition to extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Justin Wilcoxen drove in a pair of runs as well. Luke Waters paced the visiting side with three hits.
Kyle Edwards put the ODU offense in gear in the top of the first inning by drawing a four-pitch leadoff walk. Pirate starter Corey Costello then fanned Steven Meier swinging and induced a pop up to second, but Alex Bouche delivered with an RBI double that snuck just inside the right field line before Kenny Levari laced a run-scoring single up the middle to afford the Monarchs and early 2-0 lead.
East Carolina would respond right away. Ryley Johnson followed Edwards' lead by working a leadoff walk and moved to second on a Carter Cunningham double down the right field line. Jenkins-Cowart kept things moving by roping a two-run single to the gap in right center. A failed pickoff attempt pushed Jenkins-Cowart to second and he would take third on a fly ball to right before scoring on a Wilcoxen infield single to put the Pirates up 3-2.
The offensive nature of the game continued in the top of the second as Old Dominion scored a pair of runs on two hits to grab back the upper hand, but a Dixon Williams RBI single that plated Bristol Carter (leadoff walk) would knot the score at four.
Things settled from there until the bottom of the fifth inning saw ECU move into the lead for good. With two away and the bases clean, Jenkins-Cowart walked and promptly scored on a Ryan McCrystal double that nearly reached the wall in the left center gap.
The Monarchs threatened in the top of the seventh when Waters single with two outs and stole second. Bouche was put on with an intentional walk, but Norby was up to the task and tallied a looking strikeout of Levari to keep the Pirates in front. East Carolina padded its advantage in the bottom of the inning as Johnson sparked the rally with a leadoff double and scored on a Jenkins-Cowart RBI single. Wilcoxen added a run-scoring single of his own that plated Jenkins-Cowart and left the Pirates with a 7-4 cushion.
Norby finished the job well in the eighth and ninth frames, giving up just a one-out solo home run to Edwards before notching a pair of strikeouts around a double and intentional walk to preserve the victory.
The Pirates (25-7) faced a two-run deficit in the first inning, but quickly took the lead in the home half of the frame before holding the Monarchs (16-16) to just one run after the second inning.
Norby (2-0) registered career-high marks in innings pitched (4.2) and strikeouts (10) while scattering three hits and surrendering just one earned run. Lincoln Ransom (1-2) was saddled with the loss after he was charged with the go-ahead run in 1.2 frames of work.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart led a trio of ECU batters that recorded two hits apiece as he finished the contest with three runs scored and three RBI in addition to extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Justin Wilcoxen drove in a pair of runs as well. Luke Waters paced the visiting side with three hits.
Never take this for granted🤟🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/nRoq9NC4yQ
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) April 11, 2024
Kyle Edwards put the ODU offense in gear in the top of the first inning by drawing a four-pitch leadoff walk. Pirate starter Corey Costello then fanned Steven Meier swinging and induced a pop up to second, but Alex Bouche delivered with an RBI double that snuck just inside the right field line before Kenny Levari laced a run-scoring single up the middle to afford the Monarchs and early 2-0 lead.
East Carolina would respond right away. Ryley Johnson followed Edwards' lead by working a leadoff walk and moved to second on a Carter Cunningham double down the right field line. Jenkins-Cowart kept things moving by roping a two-run single to the gap in right center. A failed pickoff attempt pushed Jenkins-Cowart to second and he would take third on a fly ball to right before scoring on a Wilcoxen infield single to put the Pirates up 3-2.
The offensive nature of the game continued in the top of the second as Old Dominion scored a pair of runs on two hits to grab back the upper hand, but a Dixon Williams RBI single that plated Bristol Carter (leadoff walk) would knot the score at four.
Things settled from there until the bottom of the fifth inning saw ECU move into the lead for good. With two away and the bases clean, Jenkins-Cowart walked and promptly scored on a Ryan McCrystal double that nearly reached the wall in the left center gap.
The Monarchs threatened in the top of the seventh when Waters single with two outs and stole second. Bouche was put on with an intentional walk, but Norby was up to the task and tallied a looking strikeout of Levari to keep the Pirates in front. East Carolina padded its advantage in the bottom of the inning as Johnson sparked the rally with a leadoff double and scored on a Jenkins-Cowart RBI single. Wilcoxen added a run-scoring single of his own that plated Jenkins-Cowart and left the Pirates with a 7-4 cushion.
Norby finished the job well in the eighth and ninth frames, giving up just a one-out solo home run to Edwards before notching a pair of strikeouts around a double and intentional walk to preserve the victory.
- East Carolina improved to 15-1 at Clark-LeClair Stadium in 2024.
- The Pirates tallied double-digit hits for the fourth time in the last six games and the 16th time this year.
- Johnson has reached base safely in 30-consecutive appearances – the longest such streak for the program since Thomas Francisco and Connor Norby eclipsed the plateau during the 2021 season.
- ECU was 5-for-11 (.455) with runners in scoring position and 5-for-12 (.417) with two outs.
- The Pirates secured their 10th come-from-behind victory of the campaign.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Norby, Ethan (2-0)
L: Ransom, Lincoln (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Waters, Luke 1 ; Bouche, Alex 1
HR: Edwards, Kyle 1
RBI: Edwards, Kyle 1 ; Meier, Steven 1 ; Bouche, Alex 1 ; Levari, Kenny 1 ; Holman, Evan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Edwards, Kyle 2 ; Bouche, Alex 1 ; Cole, Hunter 1 ; Holman, Evan 1
SB: Waters, Luke 1 ; Cole, Hunter 1
HBP: Bouche, Alex 1
Batting:
2B: Johnson, Ryley 1 ; Cunningham, Carter 1 ; McCrystal, Ryan 1
RBI: Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob 3 ; McCrystal, Ryan 1 ; Wilcoxen, Justin 2 ; Williams, Dixon 1
SH: Johnson, Ryley 1 ; Cunningham, Carter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnson, Ryley 2 ; Cunningham, Carter 1 ; Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob 3 ; Carter, Bristol 1
CS: Williams, Dixon 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
3
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF/1B
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballINF
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