No. 13 ECU Baseball completes sweet at USF, 5-1

Bryant Packard hit his second grand slam of the weekend, while Jake Kuchmaner and Gavin Williams did the rest helping No. 13 ECU to a series sweep at USF, 5-1, Sunday afternoon at USF Baseball Stadium.

With the win, the Pirates improve to 21-6 overall and 6-0 in American Athletic Conference play while extending their win streak to nine games. The Bulls fall to 12-14 on the year and 1-5 in league play.

ECU wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard thanks to Packard’s grand slam in the second inning for a 4-0 lead. Thomas Francisco reached on a throwing error to get things going. Brady Lloyd got on base when he was hit by a pitch and Ryder Giles loaded the bases with a single for Packard, who took a first pitch offering from Burns over the outfield wall in left center.

Jake Kuchmaner (3-0) earned the win allowed one run (earned) on four hits with three walks and six punch outs. Gavin Williams notched his first save of the season tossing 3.2 scoreless innings with a career-high eight strikeouts. Cam Colmore gave up one hit and walked one before turning the game over to Williams in the sixth.

Dylan Burns (0-2) suffered the loss allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Noah Yager came in and surrendered just one run (earned) on three hits with a walk and five strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Nelson Alvarez tossed the final two frames walking two and allowing one hit.

Alec Burleson extended the Pirates lead to five, 5-0, with a solo blast to start the fifth inning to right field.

Tyler Dietrich’s RBI double in the sixth pulled the Bulls within four, 5-1. Joe Genord singled with one out, took second on Austin Bodrato’s walk and came around to score on Dietrich’s base hit.

A trio of Pirates tallied multiple hits in Brickhouse, Burleson and Packard, who became the first ECU player to hit grand slams in consecutive games since 2010 (Zack Wright).

ECU returns to action on Wednesday, April 3 when it plays host to Duke at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. (ET).