Trey Yesavage set a new season high in pitches thrown when he got the second out in the top of the sixth inning on Thursday against visiting Rice. He didn’t know his pitch count at the time, but he knew he still felt strong.
Either way, East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin was at the top step of the dugout and took a couple of steps onto the field with the intention of pulling his starter. But the right-hander wanted to finish the inning and shook off his coach.
One more batter.
Yesavage issued a walk and this time Godwin successfully went to the bullpen and reliever Aaron Groller came on to get the final out of the inning. But Yesavage’s desire to pitch as deep into games as possible comes not only from a personal pride standpoint but also an understanding that the Pirates need him to eat as many innings as he can.
Three relievers finished off an 8-2 win to snap a five-game losing streak and claim the series opener against the Owls in the final series of the regular season. The Pirates’ magic number to win the conference remained at two as UTSA sits one game behind in second place.
ECU played for an AAC title when the Pirates and Owls met on Friday for a doubleheader to finish the series as they tried to avoid wet weather in the forecast for Saturday.
“At Memphis when he gave up the no-hitter, I went to the mound and he was like at 90-something pitches and he says, ‘Coach, I got this,’” Godwin said of Yesavage coming one out from finishing off a run-rule no-hitter earlier this season. “I said, ‘I know you got this, but there will be a time when I leave you in the game.’
“I took two steps out of the dugout and he waved me back in and I was like, ‘All right.’ He ended up walking the guy but he’s earned that. And of all people that can wave me back in the dugout, that guy can wave me back in the dugout.”
Yesavage went 5.2 innings and allowed two hits and one earned run. He walked a season-high four batters and struck out seven while throwing 119 pitches.
Rice (22-32, 11-14 AAC) hung tough against Yesavage and fouled off pitch after pitch to increase his pitch count and make the strikeout artist labor.
“I’m a strikeout guy and they’re not swinging at stuff in the first and the stuff that’s right off the plate they’re fouling off,” Yesavage said. “So they’re a good squad, they can swing it and they had tough at-bats.”
Dixon Williams went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for ECU, while Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and Justin Wilcoxen each added three-run home runs. Bristol Carter added an RBI and Ryan McCrystal went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
Wilcoxen hit his team-leading 13th home run in the bottom of the eighth, a three-run blast that extended the lead to 8-2.
The sequence in the eighth resembled how the Pirates scored in the fourth, as McCrystal reached base with a hit and Jacob Starling reached via hit-by-pitch. Williams homered in the fourth and, after McCrystal and Starling set the table again, Wilcoxen offered a replay four innings later.
“Getting a guy on base allows the offense to kind of free up,” McCrystal said. “I think once that first guy’s on, our offense is so good in the first place it’s just like getting the ball rolling kind of thing.”
Rice starter Parker Smith went all eight innings and allowed eight hits and eight earned runs. Smith struck out five with no walks. He was sharp outside of the two big innings.
“It’s big,” Godwin said of putting together two big innings against Smith. “Their guy that was pitching is a Team USA guy. I mean, the guy’s a good pitcher. He’s, I would say probably, the next best guy on Friday night besides Trey in the league.
“He’s got really good stuff and they let him stay out there. I think he had thrown like 80 pitches through seven innings and we were able to get a swing off by (Jenkins-Cowart) and then (Wilcoxen) so both were good things.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0