No. 22 ECU baseball one-hits Liberty, 11-0

Bryson Worrell blasted his fifth home run of the season, while five pitchers combined to limit Liberty to just one hit in No. 22 East Carolina’s 11-0 shutout victory Wednesday at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 9-3 on the season and the Flames fall to 8-5.

Worrell, who has hit five home runs in the last six games, staked ECU to an early 3-0 lead after belting a three-run shot to left field in the first frame. Zach Agnos singled up the middle with one out and moved over to third on a failed pickoff move by Jackson Haga. Two batters later Seth Caddell walked to put runners on the corners for Worrell. After a pitching change in the middle of hit at-bat, Worrell flipped from the left side of the box to the right and took a 3-1 offering from Christian Gordon high over the wall.

Garrett Saylor (2-0) got the win tossing three scoreless frames of relief with a pair of strikeouts on a bullpen day. Starter Trystan Kimmel had two perfect frames with a pair of punch outs which was followed by two more scoreless innings from Cam Colmore (1 H, 1 BB). Elijah Gill (1.0 IP, 2 Ks) and Dylan Lawson (1.0 IP, 1 K) completed the one-hit shutout for ECU – the team’s first since April 22, 2017 at Cincinnati.

Haga (0-1) suffered the loss in his collegiate debut giving up two runs (both earned) on one hit with one strikeout in two-thirds of an inning. From there the Flames used five arms in relief getting outings from Gordon (0.2 IP, 3 Rs), Troy Britts (1.2 IP, 1 H), Cole Garrett (2.0 IP, 2 Hs, 1 K), David Erickson (1.1 IP, 6 Rs) and Logan Baker (1.2 IP, 1 K).

The Pirates added to their lead in the second inning pushing across a pair of runs making it a 5-0 ball game. Christian Jayne and Ryder Giles drew consecutive walks and both moved up 90 feet to second and third on Lane Hoover’s sac bunt. After a Flames pitching change, Agnos reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a throwing error by first baseman Garrett Wilkinson after Giles scored allowing Jayne to also cross home.

Three runs in the sixth and seventh stanzas extended ECU’s lead to 11-0. Alec Burleson’s sac fly in the sixth scored Hoover and the inning continued when Caddell walked and Worrell laced a double down the left field line. Ben Newton’s two-RBI single back up the middle plated both Caddell and Worrell.

Agnos’ two-RBI single and another sac fly by Burleson accounted for the final three runs of the contest and capped the scoring at 11-0. Jayne reached on an infield single to get things going which was followed by Nick Barber’s walk and Hoover’s infield base knock to load the bases for Agnos, who along with Hoover advanced a base on a Liberty error putting both runners in scoring position. Burleson’s fly ball to left field easily allowed Hoover to cross home.

The Pirates pounded out 11 hits on the day getting two each from Agnos, Hoover, Connor Norby and Worrell. Four players drove in two or more runs in Worrell (three), Agnos (two), Burleson (two) and Newton.

ECU hits the road for a three-game tilt against instate foe Charlotte starting Friday, March 6 at Robert & Mariam Hayes Stadium. First pitch of the series has been moved up to 3 p.m. (ET) due to potential cold weather in the area.