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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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- 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
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
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