WILMINGTON — East Carolina overcame a crucial mistake in a wild ninth inning to top host UNC-Wilmington, 8-7, in 10 innings on Tuesday night.
The No. 11 Pirates (11-4) were in position to wrap up the nonconference contest after a dramatic double play in the Seahawks’ half of the ninth, but ECU pitcher Danny Beal threw high to first after fielding a grounder by Alec DeMartino, who wound up on second on the error. John Newton’s infield single scored the tying run.
The Pirates gave themselves another chance at victory as Carter Cunningham singled through the right side to start the 10th. Cunningham went to second on a wild pitch and Jacob Starling walked with one away.
Joey Berini was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Cunningham to score the deciding run.
“We played bad tonight,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the ECU radio network. “I’m happy that we won.”
Bristol Carter’s RBI single gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second and Ryan McCrystal brought in another run with a bunt single later in the frame.
Newton had a 2-run homer as UNCW (9-8) took a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Berini singled to score Cunningham in the fifth and trim the lead to 4-3.
Kevin Jones had an RBI single for the Seahawks in the sixth.
ECU tied the score with two runs in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Berini and a bases-loaded walk to Luke Nowak.
The Pirates went up 7-5 in the eighth on a 2-run double by Justin Wilcoxen, who was 4-for-6.
A sacrifice fly by Jones brought UNCW within 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth.
Aaron Groller (1-0) pitched the last one and one-third innings for the win.
ECU had a 14-10 lead in hits but committed three errors.
The Pirates host Columbia for a 3-game series that starts on Friday at 6 p.m. The Lions were 3-7 going into a game at Santa Clara on Tuesday night.
Leave a Reply