ECU Blanks George Mason 6-0
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The pitching trio of Cam Colmore, Sam Lanier and Davis Kirkpatrick tossed a combined five-hit shutout as No. 16 East Carolina completed a two-game sweep of George Mason, 6-0, Wednesday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 10-3, while the Patriots fall to 2-10 on the season.
Colmore (1-0), who made his first career start, scattered one hit and struck out a career-high four batters in four innings of work picking up the win. Sam Lanier gave up a pair of hits and fanned two in two innings, while Kirkpatrick notched his first career save tossing three scoreless frames with three strikeouts.
Brian Marconi (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with a pair of walks in 6.1 innings. Tyler Tobin made his fourth appearance of the year surrendering a pair of runs (both earned) on two hits in one inning of relief, while Evan Porcella tossed two-thirds of an inning with one strikeout.
Turner Brown led the Pirates offensively collecting two hits, driving in a run and scoring a pair of runs. Parker Lamm, who sat out Tuesday’s game, extended his hit streak to a career-high 13 games with a two-RBI single in the eighth inning. Bryce Harman, Wesley Phillips and Charlie Yorgen each drove in one run in the contest.
George Mason managed just five base hits, all singles, and left seven runners on base.
How It Happened:ECU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to Phillips’ RBI ground out to second that scored Luke Bolka from third base. Bolka, who owns a six-game hitting streak, doubled to right center to start the frame and moved to third on Harman’s line out to right field before crossing home during Phillips at-bat.
Harman’s bases loaded walk in the third inning scored Brown pushing the lead to 2-0. Turner and Yorgen each reached on infield bunt singles and Eric Tyler drew a one-out walk to load the bases for Bolka, who popped out to second base. Harman, who fell behind in the count 0-2, battled back recording his team-leading seventh walk that plated Brown.
The Pirates scored a pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cap the scoring at 6-0. Brown and Yorgen each drove in a run in the seventh and Lamm followed with a pair of RBI on his single in the eighth frame.
Game Notes:Cliff Godwin recorded his 50th win in 75 games as the Pirates skipper and became the third fastest coach to reach the 50-win plateau (Earl Smith and Dr. Gary Overton both reached 50 wins in 65 games) … Yorgen made his first career start at third base – had previously started 117 games at second base dating back to his freshman season in 2014 … The Pirates pitching staff have tossed 17 consecutive scoreless innings since giving up a run in the first inning to George Mason on Tuesday, Mar. 8 … ECU stole 11 bases in the two game series pushing its season total to 28 – last year the Pirates swiped 41 bags … Harman’s bases loaded walk in the third inning came with two outs giving ECU 28 two-out RBI on the season … The Pirates are currently off to their best start (10-3) since the 2012 campaign.
Up Next:ECU will hit the road this weekend (Mar. 11-13) for a three-game non-conference series against former Conference USA foe Rice, which will be played at Reckling Park. First pitch of the series is set for Friday, Mar. 11 at 7 p.m. (EST).
