No. 5 ECU splits doubleheader with South Florida

GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 5 East Carolina clinched its sixth-straight American Athletic Conference series of the season Sunday, splitting a doubleheader with South Florida inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates took the opener 8-5 before falling just short in the nightcap by a 5-4 margin.

ECU (37-9, 16-5 AAC) exits the weekend with a three-game lead over UTSA for first place in the league standings with six conference contests left on the schedule. The Bulls (23-24, 9-12 AAC) kept themselves in contention to claim one of eight available spots in the AAC Tournament scheduled for May 21-26 in Clearwater, Fla.

Game One: East Carolina 8, South Florida 5
The Pirates scored five unanswered runs over the final five innings to break a 3-3 deadlock and extend their winning streak to 10 games.

Danny Beal (5-2) covered the final five frames out of the bullpen to secure the victory, allowing just two earned runs on three hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Bryce Archie (0-2) was saddled with the loss after surrendering three runs on six hits in two innings of work.

Bristol Carter led all players in the contest with three hits while Jacob Starling finished the opener with two hits, two runs scored and a pair of RBI. Bobby Boser paced South Florida with two hits, a run scored and three runs driven in.

The Bulls threatened right away in the top of the first as consecutive one-out singles put Rafael Betancourt and Ben Rozenblum on the corners. However, Pirate starter Ethan Norby snagged a grounder back to the mound and sparked a 1-5-2-6-1 putout of Rozenblum before fanning Joaquin Monque to escape the half inning unscathed.

East Carolina capitalized in the bottom of the frame as Carter Cunningham drew a one-out walk, Jacob Jenkins-Cowart singled through right side to push Cunningham to third and Starling drove him in via a sacrifice fly to put the Pirates ahead by one after one complete.

South Florida took the lead in the top of the second thanks to a three-run home run off the bat of Boser, but Starling clubbed a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the third and Ryley Johnson snuck a two-out single through the right side to plate Carter in the fourth to knot the score.

The visitors briefly retook the upper hand in the top of the fifth with two runs. Matthew Buffington was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch before Betancourt launched a two-out solo homer over the wall in right-center to make it 5-3. The Pirates responded right away as Starling drew a one-out four-pitch walk and McCrystal cleared the fence in right field to forge another deadlock.

With two outs and the bases clean in the bottom of the sixth, Cunningham roped a double into the right-center gap and scored on a Jenkins-Cowart single up the middle to put East Carolina ahead for good. Dixon Williams and Justin Wilcoxen produced back-to-back long balls in the bottom of the seventh to account for the final margin.

Game Two: South Florida 5, East Carolina 4 (Seven Innings)
The Pirates built an early two-run lead in the nightcap but could not hold on as the Bulls salvaged the series finale in a contest that was scheduled for seven innings.

Jack Cebert (5-6) earned the win, throwing six innings and allowing three earned runs on six hits. Aaron Groller (2-1) took the loss after giving up an unearned run over two frames of work.

McCrystal logged a two-hit performance and registered an RBI while John Montes went 2-for-3 and drove in a pair of runs.

Montes afforded South Florida an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first with an RBI single, but ECU struck back in the bottom of the inning. Johnson reached on a leadoff infield single before Cunningham deposited a 1-0 offering into left field to push Johnson to third. Jenkins-Cowart then plated Johnson with an RBI single. Cunningham would reach third on a wild pitch and scored via a McCrystal two-out single to right center to push the Pirates in front.

Rozenblum tied the game in the top of the third with a leadoff solo home run and Montes later delivered an RBI single of his own to tie things up at three. Monque propelled the Bulls ahead by one in the top of the fifth with a run-scoring base knock while Drew Brutcher made it 5-3 in the sixth by adding an RBI single to his ledger. Starling cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff solo shot to leave the score at 5-4 entering the final inning.

South Florida loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the seventh, but ECU reliever Jaden Winter was up to the task as he fanned Jackson Mayo, induced a fly ball out to shallow left and struck out Eric Snow to terminate the threat with no damage done.

Joey Berini drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh to give the Pirates the tying run on base and pinch runner Nathan Chrismon stole second with one away. Cunningham would draw a walk from there, but a double play cut the rally short and ended the game.

• East Carolina ran its record to 23-3 at Clark-LeClair Stadium this season.
• Johnson extended his on-base streak to 44 games and his hitting streak to 19 games.
• The Pirates lost their seventh one-run contest of the year as their nine setbacks have occurred by a combined 11 runs.
• ECU went 7-for-14 (.500) with two outs in the first game of the day.
• The Pirates racked up seven extra-base hits across the doubleheader.

Up Next: East Carolina hosts nationally-ranked Duke on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.