Pirates nip UCF in 10

By Al Myatt
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GREENVILLE — Eric Tyler's two-out RBI single up the middle on Friday night provided East Carolina with its third straight walkoff win at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates edged Central Florida 6-5 after Hunter Allen led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a single to center field. Allen advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Charlie Yorgen. A ground out to first by pinch hitter Bailey Sugg put Allen at third and he scored when Tyler connected with the first pitch in the last at-bat of the American Athletic Conference contest.

Game two of the series has been moved up to a noon start today due to the threat of rain in the evening.

The Pirates improved to 27-16 overall and 7-6 in league play. Nick Durazo (3-0) went the last inning and one-third for the win.

Reid Love and Tyler had RBIs in the first inning as the Pirates took a 2-1 lead. Luke Lowery drove in a pair of runs with a single through the left side in the fifth inning for a 4-2 ECU advantage.

In the seventh, a triple by Kirk Morgan and a sacrifice fly by Travis Watkins pushed the Pirates' lead to 5-2.

The Knights (26-17, 5-8 AAC) used an RBI double by Dylan More and a two-run homer by James Vasquez to tie the score at 5 in the top of the ninth.

The Pirates had the potential winning run at third with one out in the bottom of the ninth but two strikeouts stranded Morgan. UCF had gotten the first out of the frame on a play at the plate.

Evan Kruczynski had another quality start. He went seven innings and limited the Knights to two earned runs on 10 hits. The sophomore left-hander struck out 10.

PAGE UPDATED 04/25/15 04:54 PM.

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