GREENVILLE — East Carolina built a 17-0 lead and withstood a Memphis surge for a 19-10 win in the first game of an American Athletic Conference series at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Thursday night.
The Pirates, ranked as high as No. 6, scored four runs in the first inning, put up nine runs in the third frame and added four more in the fifth in improving to 41-12 overall and 19-3 in the AAC. The 19 conference wins ties the all-time mark set by then-league-member Louisville in 2014.
Turner Brown and Jake Washer each drove in a pair of runs with singles in the opening inning.
Washer’s home run to right got the scoring started in the third. Bryant Packard had a run-scoring double for a 6-0 ECU lead. Alec Burleson and Thomas Francisco each had 2-run singles in the third.
Ryder Giles had an RBI double in the fifth and Connor Norby belted a 3-run homer.
Chandler Jenkins hit a solo homer for the Pirates in the eighth and Washer completed the scoring with an RBI double.
Washer went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs. Turner Brown was 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and two runs.
Jake Agnos (9-2) started and pitched five scoreless innings, extending his scoreless-innings streak to 30. He allowed three hits and three walks while fanning 10, setting new ECU and AAC single-season records for strikeouts in the process.
Garrett Saylor, Carter Spivey, Cam Colmore and Zach Barnes delivered stints out of the bullpen as the Tigers (26-25, 9-12 AAC) scored 10 earned runs after Agnos exited.
The second game of the 3-game set is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m.
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