TAMPA — Nationally-ranked South Florida scored five runs in the first inning and completed a sweep of visiting East Carolina on Sunday with a 6-3 win.
Joe Genord had an RBI double that opened the scoring for the Bulls (37-10, 12-6 AAC). Tyler Dietrich and Coco Montes had two-run singles in the opening frame for USF.
Turner Brown reached base on a missed third strike with two out in the top of the second and Dwanya Williams-Sutton took advantage of the situation with a two-run homer to pull the Pirates within 5-2.
Luke Borders had an RBI single in the fourth to complete the Bulls’ scoring.
ECU (24-24, 4-14 AAC) threatened in the ninth as Eric Tyler singled with one out and Spencer Brickhouse drew a walk. Brady Lloyd ran for Brickhouse. A wild pitch put runners at second and third. Travis Watkins singled to right field to score Tyler and cut the lead to 6-3 before a double play ended the game.
Jake Agnos (2-3) started for the Pirates, lasting three and two-thirds innings. He yielded nine hits and six runs, all earned. Agnos walked two and struck out seven.
Tyler Smith, West Covington and Davis Kirkpatrick all turned in scoreless mound stints for ECU. Pirate pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts.
Tyler was 2-for-4 as USF outhit ECU, 13-4. Kevin Merrell and Dietrich each had three hits for the Bulls.
Peter Strzelecki (2-2) pitched eight and one-third innings for the hosts, allowing three hits. He yielded three runs, one earned, while walking one and striking out 10.
Andrew Perez finished on the mound for USF.
The Pirates host Duke on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Blue Devils are 23-23 going into a home game with Campbell on Tuesday night. ECU topped Duke 9-4 in Durham on March 14.
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