East Carolina Musters Up Big Rally To Claim AAC Baseball Championship Opener

Tuesday, May 21

Clearwater, Fla.

12:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

Rice

East Carolina Musters Up Big Rally To Claim AAC Baseball Championship Opener

May 21, 2024 | Baseball

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CLEARWATER, Fla. – Top seed East Carolina scored in just one inning Tuesday afternoon but did it 12 times in the bottom of the eighth to erase a late four-run deficit on the way to a 12-4 victory over No. 8 seed Rice in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship inside BayCare Ballpark.

The 12-run inning represents a tournament record and the most for ECU since it plated 11 in the second frame of a 30-4 win over N.C. Central back on March 26, 2010.

With the win, East Carolina (41-13) advances to the winner's bracket and will take No. 4 seed Wichita State Thursday at 1 p.m. for the right to advance to the semifinal round. Rice will play in an elimination game Wednesday, facing fifth-seeded UAB.

ECU received a solid start out of AAC All-Freshman Team honoree Ethan Norby who limited the Owls (22-35) to a pair of earned runs in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts. Colby Wallace (1-0) garnered his first collegiate victory, tossing the top of the eighth inning and holding Rice to a lone run before the Pirate offense exploded in the home half of the frame. Davion Hickson (3-2) was charged with the loss, surrendering six runs (five earned) on three hits in just 1.1 innings of work.

Ryley Johnson ended up pacing the East Carolina offense with two hits, two runs scored and three RBI while Joey Berini went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a run driven in. Jacob Starling added two runs scored and two RBI. Kyte McDonald did his part for the Owls, registering three hits and two runs scored while falling a home run shy of the cycle.

The Defensive Player of the Year is also a weapon at the plate @ryley_johnson2 pic.twitter.com/JELdWTZN9E
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) May 21, 2024

With ECU trailing 4-0 in the eighth, AAC Player of the Year Carter Cunningham started the scoring barrage when he singled home Berini before Johnson scored on a grounder by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart to cut the lead to two. Cunningham came home on a single by Dixon Williams before Justin Wilcoxen singled to score Jacob Starling to tie the contest.

The Pirates then took the lead on an RBI single by Luke Nowak before Berini hit a second ball of the inning to right field that was misplayed to send home another run. Johnson would provide the knockout blow with a three-run triple to the gap in right center field before scoring on a wild pitch. Starling put the exclamation point on the comeback, hitting a two-run tank over the right field wall to close out the scoring.

East Carolina improved to 5-4 in the opening round of the AAC Baseball Championship.
The Pirates have won four straight against the Owls, cutting Rice's lead in the all-time series to 24-13.
The Owls were 1-for-11 (.091) with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 runners on base, while ECU was 6-for-10 (.600).
The Pirates improved to 17-0 when scoring 10 or more runs in a contest this season.
Eight of East Carolina's nine hitters in the starting lineup notched at least one hit.