Boyd leads Pirates to series win

By Al Myatt
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Post-game audio: Cliff Godwin, Jimmy Boyd, Dwanya Williams-Sutton...

GREENVILLE —  Jimmy Boyd lost a shutout bid in the top of the ninth inning but East Carolina won its American Athletic Conference series with Houston by topping the Cougars 5-1 at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday.

Freshman Dwanya Williams-Sutton had three RBIs and Joe Ingle got his seventh save as ECU improved to 19-8 overall and 2-0 in the AAC with a crowd of 2,966 looking on.

Boyd (4-1) limited the Cougars (16-10, 0-2) to six hits over eight and two-thirds innings. He walked one and struck out eight.

The run that was charged to the senior right-hander was unearned. The Pirates committed three errors.

Grayson Padgett reached on a miscue that allowed Corey Julks to score in the final frame.

Lefty Seth Romero (4-1) was dealt his first loss as he went five and two-thirds innings. The Pirates scored four runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 5-0.

Romero hit Eric Tyler with a pitch in the second inning and Tyler stole second base with two out, enabling him to score for a 1-0 ECU lead on a single to left by Williams-Sutton.

"I didn't see any fast balls today," Williams-Sutton said. "My coaches said, 'Sit slider,' and that was my approach the whole game."

Charlie Yorgen walked to start the Pirates' half of the sixth. He moved to second on a balk. Travis Watkins was hit by a pitch and Tyler had an RBI double to left for a 2-0 ECU lead.

Luke Bolka had an infield single before the Cougars turned a double play. Tyler and Bolka scored on a double down the left field line by Williams-Sutton.

Turner Brown singled through the left side to bring in Williams-Sutton for a 5-0 Pirates lead.

ECU coach Cliff Godwin referred to Romero as possibly the best left-hander in the country.

"With a guy like Romero, I just have to minimize mistakes," Boyd said. "I have to play my game, throw the ball down, get ground ball outs, get quick outs and try to keep him on the ropes."

There were more intense moments in the second game of the series. The Cougars thought ECU first base coach Jeff Palumbo was stealing signs on Saturday, resulting in a conference with the coaches and umpires.

"If we were stealing signs, we wouldn't have struck out however many times (eight)," Godwin said.

Bryce Harman was ejected in game one, a 3-1 Pirates win, for an illegal slide at the plate on a new rule designed to protect catchers. Some players on both teams left the dugout after the collision at home but there were no physical confrontations. Harman served an automatic one-game suspension on Saturday.

Williams-Sutton, Tyler and Brown each had two hits as the Pirates moved into position for a sweep going into an 11 a.m. game today.

"I mean it would be awesome," Godwin said of the chance to take three games against Houston. " ... It's like I told our guys, we could come out and play flat and win the series. Everybody would say, 'Good job.' But if you want to be great, you want to try to focus on hosting regionals and hosting super regionals, then you've got to do something special every once in awhile. We'll need to play our best baseball to be able to beat a great Houston team."

The Cougars are ranked No. 25 in the USA Today coaches poll.

PAGE UPDATED 05/16/16 09:32 PM.

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