• Baseball
  • ECU Baseball's Win Streak At Home Keeps Growing After The Pirates Downed Duke

ECU Baseball's Win Streak At Home Keeps Growing After The Pirates Downed Duke

Details
Baseball

The East Carolina Pirates (21-12-1) extended their win streak to five with early offensive explosion to defeat the Duke Blue Devils (21-14). ECU secured an 8-6 victory on Tuesday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium, fending off a late-inning surge.

The Pirates wasted no time providing Ryan Towers with run support. Braden Burress launched a lead-off solo home run to deep left in the bottom of the first. ECU added a second run that inning on an RBI ground out by Colby Wallace. Wallace later added a double to his stats in the eighth.

The lead grew to 4-0 in the third inning when Jack Herring doubled down the left-field line to score Grady Lenahan, followed by a run-scoring ground out from Jeff Sabater.

The Pirate lead reached 7-0 in the fifth inning as the team capitalized on a pair of defensive miscues and a sacrifice fly by Walker Barron.

Despite the early deficit, the visitors utilized a sixth-inning defensive lapse to plate five unearned runs and narrow the margin to 7-5. The gap was closed further at the top of the eighth following an RBI single, but East Carolina responded in the bottom half of the frame.

Matt Lashley provided a critical insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Herring to push the lead to 8-6. Jenkins then silenced the comeback attempt in the ninth, striking out the final batter to secure the midweek win in front of a home crowd.

Towers anchored the win with a career-defining outing, holding the opposition hitless through 5.2 innings of work. Towers dominated the zone from the first inning, facing 20 batters and surrendering zero hits while striking out five before exiting in the sixth.

After the visitors mounted a rally against the Pirate bullpen, Sean Jenkins entered in the eighth to provide 2.0 innings of high-leverage relief. Jenkins struck out four and allowed only one hit to earn his fifth save of the season.

Herring led the Pirates offensively, going 3-for-5 on the night, accounting for three runs with two RBI of his own. Lashley, Lenahan and Burress were all able to notch two hits each, with Barron and Wallace gaining a base as well on the day.

The Pirates end their homestand undefeated at 5-0 and will head to New Orleans for their second away conference series against Tulane. First pitch for the first game of the series is set for Friday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. EST.