GREENVILLE — East Carolina was dominant in all phases on Friday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium in taking an 11-1 win in seven innings over South Florida in an American Conference series opener.
Davin Whitaker went 4-for-4 with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs as the Pirates improved to 26-16-1 overall and 10-6 in league play going into a doubleheader with the Bulls (28-13, 7-9) beginning at 2:30 p.m. today (ESPN+). The second game will get underway approximately 45 minutes after the first game is completed. A game scheduled for Sunday was moved up due to the weather forecast.
Ryan Towers (4-3) started and delivered five scoreless innings. He allowed four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
“RT (Towers) was awesome,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network. “Offense was awesome. Defense was awesome. It was a very well-played game by us.”
Braden Burress led off the bottom of the first with a single to left and Whitaker had a hit up the middle to move Burress to third. ECU took a 1-0 lead when Jack Herring reached on an error by the shortstop.
A 6-run third inning included a 2-run homer by Whitaker, a 3-run blast by Walker Barron and a solo shot by Micheal Kalinich.
Whitaker scored on a passed ball in the fourth and the Pirates extended the lead to 10-0 later in the frame on a 2-run single to center by Jeff Sabater, who had three hits for the second straight game.
Whitaker’s second homer in the sixth gave ECU an insurance run that would allow the mercy rule in the seventh after an RBI single by Joseph Mirza for USF.
Whitaker, a left-handed hitter, drove his first homer 416 feet to right and the second was measured at 410 feet to right center.
Freshman Ethan Rose pitched the last two innings for the Pirates. He allowed two hits and one run (earned) with no walks and one whiff.
ECU had a 12-6 lead in hits.
Starter Michael Senay (6-3) was charged with the loss for the Bulls.
By far, the best outing of the year by the Pirates. RT provided the pitching spark, and Pirate batters went to the plate to be hitters, swinging to hit the ball where it was pitched, and not trying to hammer a kill shot every time. With the Pirates hitting everything thrown at them, USF pitchers tossed some “mistakes” their way, resulting in several home runs.
If the Pirates can keep this type of focus at the plate, there isn’t any team remaining on the schedule the Pirates can’t compete. The pitching has to be on par with Towers performance, going forward. You may not always get the same results, but the Pirates need some dependable strike-throwers to step up.