PIRATES SWEEP: ECU takes 3 in Connecticut

Published 5:02 pm Monday, May 9, 2016

MICHAEL PRUNKA | DAILY NEWS CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION: The Pirates lead Clark-LeClair Stadium in a Yes! chant after scoring a run earlier in the season. ECU has a lot to celebrate after earning its first AAC sweep of the campaign this past weekend in Connecticut.

MICHAEL PRUNKA | DAILY NEWS
CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION: The Pirates lead Clark-LeClair Stadium in a Yes! chant after scoring a run earlier in the season. ECU has a lot to celebrate after earning its first AAC sweep of the campaign this past weekend in Connecticut.

 

STORRS, Conn. — The East Carolina baseball team picked up its first American Athletic Conference sweep of the season. Jacob Wolfe pitched his first-career complete game in a 3-2 win over Connecticut on Sunday.

The only offense ECU (30-16-1, 11-6-1 AAC) needed in Sunday’s matchup came in the eighth inning of a scoreless game. With one out in the inning, Travis Watkins and Garrett Brooks came up with back-to-back singles off CJ Dandeneau.

Patrick Ruotolo came in from the bullpen for UConn (24-22, 8-9 AAC) to face Dwanya Williams-Sutton. The third pitch he threw landed over the left-center field wall to give ECU a 3-0 lead, and enough run support to get Wolfe the win.

Through eight innings, Wolfe had allowed just one hit and walked two. The eventual Conference Pitcher-of-the-Week did, however, run into trouble in the ninth inning.

Willie Yahn opened the frame with a base hit. He moved to second with Joe DeRoach-Duffin’s single to left field. A wild pitch moved Yahn to third and he came around to score the first Husky run of the inning on a fielder’s choice. Wolfe struck out the next batter, his ninth and final of the game, to earn an important second out of the frame.

Bryan Daniello reached on the fielder’s choice and moved to second after the strikeout. Tyler Gnesda followed and with a single to center to plate Daniello and make it a one-run game. Over 130 pitches deep into his outing, Wolfe got Zac Susi to ground out short to end the game and give ECU its first conference sweep of the season.

Weather pushed Friday’s game to a Saturday doubleheader for the Pirates and Huskies. In the first game of the doubleheader, Evan Kruczynski pushed through six innings, but saw his pitch count rise to 94 by the end of the sixth. Kruczynski allowed just four hits and no runs with eight strikeouts in his outing.

Matt Bridges threw the seventh inning and earned the win. He allowed just one base runner. The Pirates scored two runs in the top of the eighth and benefitted from a throwing error by Ruotolo.

With two on and no outs in the inning, Parker Lamm dropped a sacrifice bunt and Ruotolo made a throwing error to first. Jeff Nelson came in to score on the play to make it 1-0. Yorgen followed with a sacrifice bunt of his own and reached on a fielder’s choice while Bryce Harman scored from third on the play.

The Pirates tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth that proved critical. Sam Lanier started the ninth inning on the hill and issued two walks before being pulled in favor of Joe Ingle. Ingle walked the next batter he faced to load the bases.

Daniello followed with a bases-clearing double to make it a one-run game with a runner in scoring position. However, Ingle settled in to earn his 10th save of the season. He notched three consecutive strikeouts to end the game with a 4-3 ECU win.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Pirate offense erupted for 11 runs, including four runs scored by Williams-Sutton. Nelson, Watkins and Turner Brown each batted in a pair of runs.

Jimmy Boyd struggled on the mound and conceded five runs (three earned) on five hits over four innings of work. The bullpen did not fare much better in five innings of work as Bridges, Chris Holba (3-0) and Lanier each allowed at least one run. Ingle earned his 11th save of the year and second of the day. He threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in the appearance.

Williams-Sutton hit a home run and a five-run seventh inning anchored the series-clinching win. Charlie Yorgen knocked in a run on a double to right field, Watkins knocked in Yorgen and Lamm and Turner Brown plated a run on a ground out late in the seventh to complete the inning. UConn responded with a three-run bottom half of the frame but that was all the damage done late in the game by the Huskies.

The tax on the bullpen in the doubleheader made Wolfe’s Sunday outing critical and almost necessary.

The Pirates will travel to North Carolina on Tuesday for the backend of a home-and-home series with the Tar Heels. UNC trounced ECU, 17-4, in Greenville on March 15.