GREENVILLE — East Carolina overcame a 3-0 deficit after three innings to defeat Illinois State, 11-5, at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday and clinch the series with the Redbirds.
“We had much tougher at-bats than we did last night,” said Pirates coach Cliff Godwin in reference to a 4-3 win in 11 innings in the series opener on Friday night. “When we’re relentless with sticking to our approach, one through nine, we can be really special and when we’re not, we’re below average.”
ECU’s rally began with a 2-run homer down the left field line by Seth Caddell in the bottom of the fourth to pull the Pirates within 3-2.
A sacrifice fly by Connor Norby in the bottom of the fifth scored Zach Agnos and tied the score at 3.
The visitors scored twice in the top of the sixth but ECU answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Alec Makarewicz had a 2-run double to tie the score at 5 and he scored on a single to center by Agnos for a 6-5 lead.
Freshman Josh Moylan hit a 3-run homer in the seventh.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the eighth and extended their lead to 10-5 when Thomas Francisco was hit by a pitch. Norby came home on a wild pitch to complete the scoring.
Garrett Saylor (1-0) pitched four innings without yielding a hit or a run in relief of starter Jake Kuchmaner, who went five innings.
ECU goes for a sweep on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Leave a Reply