GREENVILLE — East Carolina had the tying run at third base and the winning run at second with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but a ground out allowed Memphis to take a 10-9 American Athletic Conference win on Saturday.
The Pirates closed out the regular season with a 42-13 overall record. ECU went 20-4 in the AAC.
The Tigers (27-26, 10-13) went ahead 7-4 on a 3-run homer by Alec Trela down the left field line in the fifth and maintained the upper hand the rest of the way.
Hunter Goodman added another 3-run blast for the Tigers in the sixth after Alec Burleson had launched a solo shot for the Pirates in the bottom of the fifth.
Spencer Brickhouse had a 2-run double for ECU in the sixth and Ryder Giles had a solo homer in the eighth to trim Memphis’ lead to 10-8.
Bryant Packard’s RBI single with two out in the ninth got ECU within 10-9 before Colton Neel nailed down his 10th save.
Tyler Smith (7-1) was charged with his first loss although Gavin Williams yielded the dinger to Trela.
Burleson was 3-for-5 for the Pirates with two homers, three RBIs and three runs. Getting two hits each were Brickhouse (double), Jake Washer, Thomas Francisco (double) and Giles (double, home run).
ECU plays Wichita State in its AAC Tournament opener in Clearwater, FL, on Tuesday at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Charlie Wright says
May 19, 2019 at 10:05 amCan I make a simple statement? Godwin has done an outstanding job of teaching these guys to mechanics of baseball. In every one of the one run losses, he has not taken out a pitcher when they have hit a batter, walked two in a row, or had a home run hot off of them. Are we going to keep loosing these close run games over pitching changes? Overall, I think Coach Godwin has done a tremendous job.
Cliff is the Man says
May 19, 2019 at 10:17 amHave you not noticed our bullpen is a little thin, mainly due to two players we put a lot of reliance on being hurt? Cliff and Dan have limits as to what they can do. They are trying to rely on our offense to put us in a chance to win, like yesterday when, even on a bad pitching day, we were one hit from a win.
Charlie Wright says
May 20, 2019 at 10:09 amYes, I did notice that our bull pin is thin, but Giles and Burleson might have done as good as or better than the home run pitcher. Did you happen to notice what Memphis did to start hitting our pitchers?? They choaked up on their bats about 2 inches. You can watch the video. Do you not think WSU will notice that? I have been a Pirate since I was 14 years old, I am 74. I have seen these “super” coaches come and go, I just don’t won’t a great chance to slip away again.