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You are here: Home / Baseball / Saturday sweep puts ECU in Sunday AAC final

Baseball NewsSaturday sweep puts ECU in Sunday AAC final

May 27, 2023 By Bonesville Staff Leave a Comment

CLEARWATER, FL — Jacob Starling’s grand slam started top seed East Carolina on a surge that produced a 14-7 win over No. 8 seed South Florida to complete a 2-game sweep of the Bulls at BayCare Ballpark on Saturday, putting the Pirates in the championship game of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

The Pirates downed the Bulls, 3-1, on Saturday morning to set up a showdown for a berth in the league title game. It was ECU’s fourth win in a row since being upset by the Bulls in the first round of the tourney on Tuesday

USF (20-39) scored four runs with two out in the second inning for a 4-0 lead. Starling got the Pirates even with a grand slam to left in the bottom of the second. The umpires reviewed the play because the ball bounced back into the field.

The Bulls went up 7-4 in the third on a 2-run homer by Ben Rozenblum and a solo shot by Travis Sankovich.

Cam Clonch’s homer in the third got ECU within 7-5.

The Pirates put up five runs in the fourth to take control. Carter Cunningham had a sacrifice fly before Josh Moylan had a 2-run single. Clonch singled before Jacob Jenkins-Cowart gave ECU a 10-7 lead with a 2-run double.

Starling had a run-scoring double in the seventh. A 3-run eighth for the Pirates included a leadoff homer by Moylan, a sacrifice fly by Joey Berini and a run-scoring single by Alec Makarewicz.

Erik Ritchie (2-2) got the win with three and two-thirds innings of relief after Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman started and went four innings. Landon Ginn pitched the last one and one-third. Ritchie and Ginn kept the Bulls scoreless over the last five frames. Ritchie posted six of ECU’s eight strikeouts.

In the first game Saturday morning, Garrett Saylor (3-0) started and pitched into the ninth inning, before Ginn recorded a game-ending strikeout with the bases loaded for his second save.

Saylor yielded two hits and one earned run while walking one and striking out six.

Cunningham went 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI for ECU, which outhit the Bulls, 10-2.

Cunningham’s triple in the fifth scored Lane Hoover for a 1-0 lead for the Pirates.

USF tied the score in the sixth on a solo homer by Jackson Mayo.

Alec Makarewicz doubled in the bottom of the sixth to bring in Ryley Johnson with the go-ahead run. Berini followed with an RBI single to score Makarewicz.

ECU (45-16) will meet No. 7 seed Tulane in the AAC final at noon on Sunday. The game will be televised on ESPN News.

A pair of home runs and 6 RBIs by Teo Banks helped the upstart Green Wave (17-40) topple 2nd-seed Houston 11-8 in in a decisive matchup Saturday night after losing to the Cougars (36-23) by an identical score Saturday afternoon.

AAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
SATURDAY SWEEP PUTS ECU IN SUNDAY AAC FINAL
13 PROVES LUCKY FOR ECU
SCHWARTZ SCORES IN TRANSITION
PIRATES OUST CINCINNATI
BULLS UPSET ECU IN AAC TOURNAMENT
PIRATES ARRRGH AMERICAN CHAMPIONS AGAIN
ECU COMEBACK CLINCHES SERIES
PIRATES TAKE OPENER AT USF
MOGRIDGE ON THE ROAD AND BUILDING IN THE TRENCHES
CAMELS HOLD OFF ECU
A-MAK LEADS ECU TO SWEEP
PIRATES TURN ON POWER, TAKE SERIES ON SENIOR DAY
PIRATES PULL AWAY EARLY

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