PIRATES CLAIM ONE: ECU avoids sweep with Sunday’s win
Published 4:46 pm Monday, April 11, 2016
![MICHAEL PRUNKA | DAILY NEWS STILL ROLLING: Eric Tyler sees a pitch he likes in a game earlier in the season. He plated ECU’s seventh and final run on Sunday to help the Pirates take one of three over the weekend at Tulane.](https://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/04/WEBSPORTS_ECU-avoids-sweep-with-Sunday’s-win1.jpg)
MICHAEL PRUNKA | DAILY NEWS
STILL ROLLING: Eric Tyler sees a pitch he likes in a game earlier in the season. He plated ECU’s seventh and final run on Sunday to help the Pirates take one of three over the weekend at Tulane.
NEW ORLEANS — The East Carolina baseball team scathed off its first weekend sweep of the season with a 7-3 win Sunday over Tulane.
Behind Parker Lamm’s four-hit, three-RBI day and Jacob Wolfe’s 7 2/3 innings of work, the Pirates (21-11, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) got back in the win column for the second time in the week. After allowing a first-inning solo home run by Jake Rogers, Wolfe settled in and went on to strikeout six Green Wave (21-10, 3-2 AAC) batters without allowing a walk.
Already leading 6-1, Wolfe surrendered another solo homer in the seventh to Grant Brown. An unearned run came around to score with two outs in the eighth after a Charlie Yorgen throwing error.
The Pirates broke out in the sixth inning with five runs after scoring just two runs in the first two games of the weekend combined. ECU got on the base early and often after a leadoff Eric Tyler fly out. With two men on, Garrett Brooks knocked in Bryce Harman and forced starting pitcher Alex Massey out of the game.
ECU went on to score four two-out runs in the frame. Dwanya Williams-Sutton delivered Brooks. Parker Lamm followed and plated two more with a single before Yorgen scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.
MICHAEL PRUNKA | DAILY NEWS
ON BASE: Parker Lamm gets a base hit earlier in the season and makes his way safely to first base. He had four hits for three RBI in Sunday’s win, but ECU was unable to win its series with the Green Wave.
Tyler’s hot stretch continued as the third baseman plated ECU’s last run of the series in the ninth inning to seal the 7-3 win. Freshman Sam Lanier and sophomore Joe Ingle combined for an inning and a third scoreless out of the bullpen.
Saturday, Tulane senior pitcher Emerson Gibbs tossed a complete game shutout and allowed just six base runners off five hits one walk. Gibbs first worked with two on in the eighth inning with Harman and Turner Brown on base, but Brooks and Lamm were quickly retired to end the late threat.
Jimmy Boyd took the start and worked through 5 2/3 innings. He suffered the loss while allowing two runs on four hits, the senior struggled with his control as he walked three batters without earning a strikeout. Tulane continued to use the long ball as Matt Bridges surrendered a run in the seventh inning as Stephen Alemais hit a homer to left field.
Boyd was charged with two runs in the fourth inning. After getting the first two outs of the inning in order, the Green Wave had five consecutive batters reach base. Hunter Williams put the first two runs of the game on the board in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single in a bases-loaded situation.
In the series opener, the Pirates saw a 2-0 ninth inning lead fall out from underneath them as Ingle blew the save and took the loss as Williams belted a three-run walk-off home run, his first of two home runs in the series.
Ingle entered for Kruczynski after the starter hit a batter and allowed a single to start the inning. Ingle walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. Brown and Rogers each scored off a Brown error to tie the game at two. Ingle got Jack Wilsey to strike out swinging for the second out of the inning, but Williams came up with a game-winning home run and gave Tulane its first step to a series win.
The Pirates’ bullpen rebounded nicely Saturday and Sunday after Ingle’s misstep Friday. The Pirates fell out of Baseball America’s Top-25 rankings with a 2-2 record over the past week. They remain on the road for a midweek clash at UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday before traveling to Memphis.