Pirates take pair at UConn

Staff report
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STORRS, CT — East Carolina took a 4-3 win over Connecticut on Saturday in the completion of a game that was suspended on Friday.

The Pirates followed that up by downing the Huskies 11-9 in Saturday's regularly-scheduled contest.

Joe Ingle had a save in each game as the Pirates improved to 29-16-1 overall and 10-6-1 in the American Athletic Conference.

ECU junior left-hander Evan Kruczynski pitched six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts Friday before play was halted due to rain.

The Pirates scored twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to lead 4-0 going into the bottom of the ninth in the first game.

Sam Lanier, who had three strikeouts in the eighth, had a pair of walks in the ninth before Ingle came in and issued a walk to load the bases.

UConn (24-21, 8-8) got a three-run double from Bryan Daniello to pull within 4-3. Daniello went to third on the throw home but was stranded as Ingle struck out the next three batters to end the game.

ECU went ahead in the eighth after Jeff Nelson led off with an infield hit and Bryce Harman walked. Parker Lamm got aboard on a sacrifice bunt that the Huskies misplayed, allowing Nelson to come home with the first run of the game.

Harman scored on a sacrifice bunt by Charlie Yorgen for a 2-0 Pirates lead.

Garrett Brooks singled in the ninth and scored on a double by pinch hitter Kirk Morgan. Pinch runner Brady Lloyd stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Harman.

Eric Tyler went 2-for-4 with a double as the Pirates outhit the Huskies 8-5 in the first game.

Matt Bridges picked up his first win for ECU, following Kruczynski to the mound and pitching a scoreless seventh with one strikeout.

ECU scored three runs in the second inning of the second game and the Huskies answered with a pair of runs in the third.

UConn took a 6-4 lead with four runs in the fifth. The Pirates scored five times in the seventh to lead 10-6.

ECU withstood a three-run seventh by the Huskies that cut the lead to 10-9.

Dwanya Williams-Sutton went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored four runs as the Pirates had an 11-9 lead in hits. Turner Brown went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Travis Watkins and Nelson each had one hit and two RBIs.

Yorgen had an RBI single and Watkins had a two-run single in the decisive seventh. Chris Holba pitched the sixth and got the win on ECU's eruption in the seventh.

Starter Jimmy Boyd went four innings, yielding five hits and five runs (three earned) while striking out three without a walk.

Bridges and Lanier also contributed mound stints before Ingle went the last two and two-thirds innings. Ingle limited UConn to one hit and no runs while whiffing two without a walk en route to his 11th save of 2016.

The Pirates go for their first sweep of an AAC series this season at 11:30 a.m. today.

PAGE UPDATED 05/08/16 06:30 PM.

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