No. 9 ECU baseball completes sweep of Memphis, 7-1

Box Score | Post-Game Interviews

GREENVILLE, N.C. (ECU) – Ninth-ranked East Carolina scored six runs in the eighth inning breaking a one-all tie to complete a four-game weekend series sweep of Memphis, 7-1, Sunday afternoon in American Athletic Conference play at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

With the victory the Pirates extended their home winning streak to 18 games and improved to 26-5 overall and 8-0 in league play, while the Tigers fell to 11-19 on the season and 1-7.

With the game knotted at one-all going to the bottom of the eighth, the Pirates put up a crooked number to regain the lead and cruised to its eighth-straight AAC win. Connor Norby collected the second of his two hits to start the frame and then moved to second on Thomas Francisco’s second base knock of the day, a shot to left field. After Seth Caddell dropped a sac bunt back to the Memphis pitcher (Walker Brockhouse) moving both runners into scoring position, Josh Moylan singled to right field scoring the two sophomores for a 3-1 ECU lead.

Lane Hoover kept the inning going with a walk that moved pinch runner Matt Bridges to second and Bryson Worrell’s sixth hit of the series, a single to right field, scored Bridges from second base. Hoover and Worrell would score on a wild pitches when Hunter Goodman tried to complete the strikeout of Zach Agnos and Ryley Johnson’s second home run of the season, a solo shot to right field, capped the scoring at 7-1.

Cam Colmore (4-0) earned the win allowing one hit and striking out four in 2.1 innings of relief. Starter Tyler Smith worked a season-high 5.2 innings where he surrendered one run (earned) on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

Ryder Giles retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning with one strikeout. Chris Durham (2-3) suffered the loss giving up three runs (all earned) on five hits with three walks and nine strikeouts in a career-best seven-plus innings. Brockhouse was touched for four runs (all earned) on three hits with a walk and a punch out in one inning of relief.

Seth Caddell staked ECU to an early 1-0 lead thanks to his solo home run to left field, number 10 on the season, in the first frame.

Memphis tied the game at one-all in the sixth thanks to Alec Trela’s solo blast to left field, his seventh on year.

Francisco and Norby led the Pirates nine-hit attack each recording a pair of singles while five others registered one base knock in contest. Francisco (31 games) and Norby (38) extended their on-base streaks on the afternoon, while Norby’s single in the fifth pushed his hit streak to 18 consecutive contests.

ECU will return to action on Friday, April 16 when it travels to Houston for a four-game series. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. (ET) at Schroeder Park.

Copyright 2021 WITN. All rights reserved.