CLEARWATER, FL — Justin Wilcoxen had a walk-off single for East Carolina with two out in the bottom of the 13th inning on Friday at BayCare Ballpark as the Pirates stayed alive in the American Athletic Conference tournament with a 7-6 win over Central Florida in an elimination game.
It was the longest game in terms of innings in the history of the AAC event.
No. 15 ECU (43-16) faces South Florida (21-37) on Saturday at 9 a.m. (ESPN+) and will need to beat the Bulls twice to reach the championship on Sunday at noon.
Josh Moylan reached on an error with one away in the final frame. Luke Nowak had an infield single with two down before Wilcoxen connected off Dom Scagliano (4-5) for the win.
UCF (33-26) tied the game at 6 in the top of the ninth after a one hour, 58-minute weather delay as Nick Romano had a bases-loaded single.
The Pirates went up, 6-5, in the eighth after Joey Berini singled, moved to second on a throwing error and came home on a double to left center by Lane Hoover.
Carter Cunningham’s grand slam in the second gave ECU a 5-0 lead.
The Knights tied the score at 5 in the seventh on a 2-run homer by Ben McCabe.
Landon Ginn (5-0) pitched the 13th and picked up the win. Trey Yesavage went the previous five and two-thirds innings. He allowed two hits and one run (earned) while walking one and striking out five.
Cunningham and Nowak each had a double among their two hits. Berini had two hits as each team finished with 12 hits.
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