Pirates take opener at Elon

By Al Myatt
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

ELON — East Carolina used home runs from Luke Lowery, Bryce Harman and Charlie Yorgen in a 10-3 win at Elon on Friday afternoon.

Evan Kruczynski (4-1) pitched seven innings as the Pirates improved to 11-6. He allowed three runs, two earned, on nine hits with a pair of strikeouts.

Reid Love put the Phoenix (8-7) down in order in the eighth to extend his string of consecutive retired batters to 15. Ross Gardner worked a scoreless ninth.

Harman had a two-run triple and Lowery had a two-run homer as the Pirates pushed their lead to 7-2 with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. The blast to left center was Lowery's sixth this year.

Yorgen's first homer of the season staked ECU to a 1-0 lead in the first.

Jimmy Boyd's sacrifice fly scored Eric Tyler in the second for a 2-0 Pirates lead.

Runs in the second and third for the Phoenix evened the score at 2 before ECU went ahead to stay in the fourth on Harman's homer to right, his first of the year.

Tyler's double in the eighth scored Lowery, who had walked and stole second, for an 8-3 Pirates advantage.

ECU's two-run ninth started with singles by Kirk Morgan and Hunter Allen. Morgan scored on a sacrifice bunt by Yorgen and Lowery had an RBI single to left.

Lowery and Morgan totaled three hits each as the Pirates outhit their hosts, 14-9. Harman and Tyler had two hits apiece.

Additional matchups in the three-game series at Elon are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

PAGE UPDATED 03/14/15 01:03 AM.

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