ECU Tops (4)Virginia in Ten Innings

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Brady Lloyd’s RBI double to center field broke a five-all tie in the top of the 10th inning helping East Carolina (5-0) to an 8-5 win over No. 4 Virginia (3-2) Friday afternoon at Davenport Field.

With the game tied at five in extra innings and Bryce Harman on second and Dwanya Williams-Sutton standing on first, Lloyd laced a shot to center field that just eluded a diving Adam Haseley and easily allowed Harman to score the would-be game-winning run. Wesley Phillips followed with a ground out to third that plated Williams-Sutton and Lloyd crossed home on an Alec Bettinger wild pitch making it a three-run game, 8-5.

Joe Ingle (1-0) picked up the win tossing 2.0 scoreless frames with four strikeouts. Starter Evan Kruczynski went four solid innings giving up four runs (all earned) on seven hits with four punch outs and a pair of walks. Davis Kirkpatrick made his second appearance of the season out the bullpen since coming back from Tommy John surgery working four innings where he allowed one run (earned) on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Bettinger (0-2) suffered the loss surrendering four runs (all earned) on two hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings of relief. Connor Jones gave up four runs (all earned) on eight hits with two walks and eight punch outs in five innings. David Rosenberger (2.0 IP, 2Ks) and Kevin Doherty (0.2 IP, 1K, 1BB) had scoreless outings out of the Virginia bullpen.

The Pirates recorded their fourth double-digit hit total in five games collecting 10 base knocks. Seven of eight starters recorded one hit with Eric Tyler going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Harman extended his hit streak to eight games with single in the fifth, while Parker Lamm pushed his streak to six games leading off the contest with a single. Jeff Nelson smacked his first ECU home run the fourth frame tying the game at four.

How It Happened:Trailing 5-4 in the ninth inning, Charlie Yorgen’s sac fly to right field scored Phillips from third tying the game at five-all and eventually sending the game into extra innings. Kirk Morgan came off the bench to pinch hit for Nelson and singled to center on the first pitch he saw and was immediately lifted for Phillips as a pinch runner. Turner Brown drew a walk, which was followed by Lamm’s sac bunt that put the runners on second and third and one out. Yorgen’s fly ball right field was deep enough to allow Phillips to score the tying run.

ECU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to Williams-Sutton’s two-RBI single with the bases loaded to right field that scored Yorgen and Travis Watkins in the top of the first inning.

Virginia tied the game in the bottom half of the frame on a RBI double by Matt Thaiss and a run producing single from Pavin Smith.

The Cavaliers scored two more runs in the second pushing its lead to 4-2. Ernie Clement singled up Andy Weber before Thaiss laced his second two-base hit of the afternoon down the right field line pushing across Clement.

ECU answered with runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the game at four-all. Tyler’s double down the left field line plated Yorgen, who doubled to right field to start the stanza. Nelson crushed a first pitch offering from Jones sending a moon shot down the left field line for his first home run in a Pirate uniform.

In the sixth frame, UVa took a 5-4 lead on Haseley’s sac fly to center that scored Cameron Simmons from third. Simmons doubled down the right field line to begin the inning and moved to third on Weber’s ground out to Harman at first base.

Post-Game Notes:The win was the first by the Pirates over a top 5 program since they beat the same Cavaliers program on Feb. 20, 2010 6-2 – later they would vacate the victory … The win also snaps a nine-game skid against UVA, which started in 2011 during the Charlottesville Regional … ECU scored a pair of two-out runs pushing its total to 15 on the season … The Pirates are 5-0 for the 15th time in program history and the first since 2009 … Lloyd’s RBI double in the 10th frame came during his first collegiate at-bat … ECU’s was 6-for-11 (.545 average) when it lead off an inning.

Up Next:ECU and Virginia will continue the three-game non-conference series Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. (EST) scheduled first pitch.