UConn takes series from No. 16 East Carolina in extras 3-2

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Zac Suci drove in a pair of runs including the game winner scoring Anthony Prato in the top of the 10th inning and John Russell locked down his second save of the weekend as Connecticut claimed a 3-2 series win over No. 16 East Carolina Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

With the win the Huskies improve to 15-9 on the season and 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Pirates dropped to 18-10 overall and 0-2 in league action.

Ryan Radue (1-2) picked up the win allowing a run (earned) on three hits with two strikeouts in two innings of work out of the bullpen. Russell notched his ninth save tossing a scoreless 10th frame surrendering one hit and fanning two. Starter Wills Montgomerie gave up a run (earned) on nine hits with one free pass and six punch outs in seven innings.

Joe Ingle (3-2) took the loss in relief giving up a run (earned) on two hits with a pair of walks and one strikeout in 1.2 innings. Trey Benton allowed a pair of runs (one earned) on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in seven innings for his fourth quality start of the year. Sam Lanier tossed an inning of scoreless relief (allowed two inherited runners to score) giving up a hit before handing the ball over to Ingle for the ninth. Tyler Smith faced one batter recording a strikeout in the 10th.

The Huskies got a pair of hits from Keith Krueger, Prato and Willy Yahn in the contest. Suci drove in two of UCONN’s three runs, while Tyler Gnesda had the other.

Bryant Packard led the Pirates 13-hit attack going 3-for-5, while Turner Brown, Travis Watkins and Charlie Yorgen each added two base knocks. Eric Tyler was credited with the Pirates lone RBI plating Brown, while Brady Lloyd scored in the ninth on a wild pitch.

How It Happened:

With the game knotted at two-all in the 10th inning, Suci singled home Prato with a base hit to center giving the Huskies a late 3-2 lea. Prato singled with one out, took second on an Ingle wild pitch and moved to third on Yahn’s ground out to short before scoring the would-be game winning run.

ECU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on Tyler’s RBI single. Brown led off with a base hit to right then took second on Watkins’ single to center. After Brown tagged up on Spencer Brickhouse’s fly ball, Tyler slapped a single to left easily plating Brown for the game’s first run.

UCONN took a 2-1 in the top of the eighth after plating a pair of runs. Krueger singled to get things going then took second on Prato’s walk and third on Yahn’s sac bunt. Susi’s sac fly to center scored Krueger and an errant throw by Dusty Baker allowed Prato to move to third. Gnesda’s single to right pushed across Prato for the Huskies first lead of the day.

The Pirates tied the game at two-all in the bottom of the ninth when Lloyd scored on a Raude wild pitch. Kirk Morgan led off with a pinch-hit single and was lifted for Lloyd as a pinch runner, who took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on T.J. Riles’ sac bunt. Another wild pitch by Raude allowed Lloyd to score tying the game.

Up Next:

ECU and Connecticut will wrap-up the three game weekend series on Sunday, April 2 with a 12 noon (ET) scheduled first pitch.