MEMPHIS — East Carolina scored six runs in the top of the first inning on Friday night to set the tone for a 12-0 American Conference win in eight innings at Memphis.
Ryan Towers (5-3) pitched seven innings, and Colby Wallace maintained the shutout in the eighth.
The first inning started with a leadoff single to left by Braden Burress. Davin Whitaker followed with a single to center. Jack Herring had an RBI double to score Burress with the first run.
Wallace had a sacrifice fly to bring in Whitaker for a 2-0 Pirates lead. Jeff Sabater hit a fielder’s choice that allowed Herring to come home. Sabater moved to second on a single by Austin Irby and scored on a single by Walker Barron.
Michael Kalinich had a 2-run double for a 6-0 Pirates lead.
ECU added lone runs in the third and fifth before moving into run-rule range with four runs in the eighth.
Burress had RBI singles in the third and fifth.
Wallace had a 2-run single in the eighth. Brayden Bachman had an RBI single and Irby hit a sacrifice fly.
Towers allowed three hits and walked one while striking out 10.
Wallace yielded one hit in the eighth and struck out one after moving to the mound from third base.
ECU had a 12-4 lead in hits as the Pirates improved to 29-17-1 overall and 13-6 in league play. Burress had three hits with a walk and two RBIs. Wallace had three runs driven in.
Kalinich had a double with three walks and two RBIs.
Memphis (16-28, 8-11 American) will host game two of the series on Saturday at 5 p.m. (ESPN+).
Aggressive hitting, combined with solid pitching, powered the Pirates to an impressive win over Memphis. ECU remembered how to use the bats, and didn’t waste any time jumping on the Memphis starter right from the get-go. Moreover, the Pirates kept adding runs along the way which gave ECU pitching the chance to shorten the game.
RT did his part on the mound once again, as did C-Wall to close it out. Pirate bullpen is now in as good of shape as it could be for Sat/Sun. Hopefully, the bats will stay active, and Norby will bring his A-game on Saturday.