No. 5 East Carolina downs USF 11-1 in series opener

GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 5 East Carolina rode a complete game effort by junior RHP Trey Yesavage while scoring early and often to cruise past South Florida 11-1 in seven innings Friday night in the opener of an American Athletic Conference series inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates (36-8, 15-4 AAC) won their ninth-straight game and seventh consecutive in league play to temporarily move two and a half games above UTSA for the conference lead. The Bulls (22-23, 8-11 AAC) fell to 6-10 away from home this campaign and have dropped six of their last seven AAC contests.

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart collected three RBI with one swing of the bat in the second inning via a bases-clearing double while Dixon Williams and Justin Wilcoxen rapped out a pair of base hits apiece, combining for a quartet of runs scored and three driven in. Drew Brutcher and Bobby Boser accounted for four of the visitors’ five hits.

Yesavage (10-1) reached double figures in the win column, striking out 11 batters against no walks in the seven-inning effort. Hunter Mink (3-5) was tagged with the loss after surrendering seven runs (all earned) on seven hits with a walk and no strikeouts.

Brutcher laced a one-out double to left in the top of the first, but Yesavage worked out of the threat by striking out the next two batters. Ryley Johnson led off the home half of the frame with a single to left and moved to second on a Carter Cunningham walk. Jenkins-Cowart moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Johnson was able to scoot home on a wild pitch to notch the game’s first tally. Jacob Starling then ripped a 2-0 pitch down the left field line for an RBI double that plated Cunningham and left ECU with a 2-0 advantage through one complete.

Wilcoxen and Brisol Carter singled consecutively to begin the bottom of the second before moving up a base on a Joey Berini sac bunt. Cunningham was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out and Jenkins-Cowart wasted little time by lining the first pitch of his at bat to the wall in right for a three-run double and a 5-0 Pirate lead.

East Carolina kept the pressure on in the third as Williams was hit by a pitch with one out before Wilcoxen unloaded on a 2-1 offering and belted it over the scoreboard in right-center to extend the Pirates’ cushion to seven. Jackson Mayo would put USF on the board in the top of the fourth, registering an RBI on a fielder’s choice play, but ECU answered right back in the bottom of the fifth with a Carter sacrifice fly to put the margin back at seven.

The Pirates put the game away in the bottom of the seventh with a three spot. Ryan McCrystal reached on an error to start the half inning and Williams trotted around the bases after a two-run shot to right field. Wilcoxen followed with a walk and Cam Clonch pounded a double into the left-center gap to put the walkoff tally just 90 feet away. Berini did the rest, depositing a 1-2 pitch down the right field line to score Wilcoxen and end the contest.

• East Carolina improved to 22-2 at home as well as 9-1 in conference games inside the friendly confines.
• The Pirates recorded double-digit hits for the 13th-straight outing and multiple home runs for the seventh consecutive game.
• ECU went 7-for-16 (.438) with runners on base and 3-for-4 (.750) with a runner on third and less than two outs.
• Johnson extended his on-base streak to 42 games and his hitting streak to 17. Wilcoxen has also hit safely in 10 straight contests.
• Yesavage increased his career strikeout total to 274, moving into seventh on the program career list.

Up Next: East Carolina and South Florida continue the series on Saturday at 4 p.m.

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