Friday, May 31
Greenville, N.C.
1:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
43-16
1
vs
4
Evansville
36-23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Evansville
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
4
6
0
East Carolina
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
1
ECU Falls To Evansville In Greenville Regional Opener
May 31, 2024 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Freshman LHP Kenton Deverman tossed eight strong innings Friday afternoon to lift Greenville Regional No. 4 seed past top-seeded East Carolina 4-1 inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Â
The Purple Aces (36-23) advance into the winner's bracket where they will face the winner of the second first round contest between No. 2 seed Wake Forest and No. 3 VCU Saturday at 6 p.m. The Pirates (43-16) will take on the loser of that game in an elimination bout at Noon.
Â
Deverman (9-1) scattered three hits over the eight frames and finished with four strikeouts against no walks. Zach Root (6-1) was saddled with his first loss of the campaign, but still turned in a solid five-inning outing and allowed two runs on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Â
Brent Widder paced the Evansville offense, going 2-for-3 with two runs driven in. Carter Cunningham delivered a pair of base knocks, a run scored and an RBI for ECU.
Â
The Purple Aces surged into the lead in the top of the second. Chase Hug drew a leadoff walk and Widder followed with a single down the right field line. Brendan Hord then flew out to center but drove it deep enough to plate Hug from third for a 1-0 Evansville advantage. Kip Fougerousse doubled the lead in the top of the third with a two-out solo home run, but Cunningham answered with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the fourth to slice the deficit to 2-1.
Â
The scoring settled down from there as the teams produced four-straight scoreless frames. However, the Purple Aces collected two key insurance runs in the top of the ninth on the strength of a Widder two-run single. The Pirates created some traffic on the bases in the bottom of the inning via Cunningham and Ryan McCrystal consecutive one-out singles, but Deverman induced a fly ball to center and mustered up a strikeout to preserve the victory.
Â
Â
The Purple Aces (36-23) advance into the winner's bracket where they will face the winner of the second first round contest between No. 2 seed Wake Forest and No. 3 VCU Saturday at 6 p.m. The Pirates (43-16) will take on the loser of that game in an elimination bout at Noon.
Â
Deverman (9-1) scattered three hits over the eight frames and finished with four strikeouts against no walks. Zach Root (6-1) was saddled with his first loss of the campaign, but still turned in a solid five-inning outing and allowed two runs on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Â
Brent Widder paced the Evansville offense, going 2-for-3 with two runs driven in. Carter Cunningham delivered a pair of base knocks, a run scored and an RBI for ECU.
Â
The Purple Aces surged into the lead in the top of the second. Chase Hug drew a leadoff walk and Widder followed with a single down the right field line. Brendan Hord then flew out to center but drove it deep enough to plate Hug from third for a 1-0 Evansville advantage. Kip Fougerousse doubled the lead in the top of the third with a two-out solo home run, but Cunningham answered with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the fourth to slice the deficit to 2-1.
Â
The scoring settled down from there as the teams produced four-straight scoreless frames. However, the Purple Aces collected two key insurance runs in the top of the ninth on the strength of a Widder two-run single. The Pirates created some traffic on the bases in the bottom of the inning via Cunningham and Ryan McCrystal consecutive one-out singles, but Deverman induced a fly ball to center and mustered up a strikeout to preserve the victory.
Â
- East Carolina dropped a home regional opener for the first time since 2019 when they lost to Quinnipiac but rattled off four-straight victories to advance to the Super Regional round in Louisville.
- The Pirates fell to 26-5 at home this season.
- ECU and Evansville combined to go 1-8 (.125) for with runners in scoring position and 2-for-20 (.100) with two outs on the board.
- The Pirates scored their fewest runs in a game this year since dropping a 2-1 decision to then No. 15 North Carolina in Chapel Hill back on Feb. 23.
- Cunningham's home run propelled him into the team lead at 15.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kenton Deverman (9-1)
L: Root, Zach (6-1)
S: Shane Harris (2)
Batting:
HR: Kip Fougerousse 1
RBI: Kip Fougerousse 1 ; Brent Widder 2 ; Brendan Hord 1
SF: Brendan Hord 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kip Fougerousse 2 ; Chase Hug 2
CS: Brent Widder 1
HBP: Brent Widder 1 ; Cal McGinnis 1
Batting:
HR: Cunningham, Carter 1
RBI: Cunningham, Carter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cunningham, Carter 1
SB: Johnson, Ryley 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF/1B
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballECU Baseball Breaks Ground for the Dick and Sarah Bennett Baseball Building.
Friday, September 05
ECU Baseball NCAA Selection Show
Monday, May 26
ECU's Cliff Godwin Celebrates AAC Championshipmp4
Sunday, May 25
Cliff Godwin ECU Baseball Media Day
Monday, January 27
