CLEARWATER, Fla. – No. 1 seed East Carolina raced out to a six-run advantage Friday before holding off No. 8 seed Rice 8-7 in an elimination game at the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship inside BayCare Ballpark.
With the win, ECU (42-14) advances to Saturday’s semifinal round. The Pirates will have to win two games against Wichita State to advance to Sunday’s championship final. The first game on Saturday is scheduled for 9 a.m. Rice concludes the season with a record of 23-36 in its first season in The American.
Ryan McCrystal had a huge day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI while Jacob Starling was 2-for-4 with three runs driven in. Max Johnson was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs driven in for the Owls.
Zach Root, pitching for the first time in a month, got the start for the Pirates and was excellent, allowing one run in three innings with three strikeouts. Colby Wallace (1-0) was credited with the win for two scoreless innings Rice pulled within one. Danny Beal allowed a run in the top of the ninth but closed the game out to earn his fourth save of the campaign. Tucker Alch (1-3) took the loss for Rice, allowing four earned runs in just one inning of work.
The Pirates jumped out to a big lead with three runs in each of the first two innings. Starling got the scoring started with an RBI double in the bottom of the first while Cam Clonch beat out a throw to first for an RBI single and Wilcoxen plated Starling with a base knock to right field that left East Carolina ahead 3-0 after one complete.
ECU keep the pedal down, plating three more runs in the bottom of the second to grab a 6-0 advantage. Nathan Chrismon was hit by a pitch to lead things off and Ryley Johnson followed with a four-pitch walk. With one away, McCrystal took the first pitch he saw and ripped it to the wall in center to score Chrismon and Starling followed with a two-run single to right.
The teams would trade runs in the third frame as the Pirates entered the fourth inning with a 7-1 edge. The Owls started to claw back into the game, scoring three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth, pulling within one at 7-6. East Carolina added an insurance run in the eighth when Jacob Jenkins-Cowart led off with a double and scored on a Joey Berini two-out RBI single, but Rice mounted one last rally in the top of the ninth.
Kyte McDonald sparked his club with a single to shallow right field before Ben Dukes deposited a 3-2 pitch into right center, leaving the runners on the corners with no outs. A wild pitch moved Dukes to second, but Beal responded with a strikeout of Treyton Rank for the first out. A walk to Jack Riedel loaded the bases and pinch hitter Eric Correa reached on a fielder’s choice to plate McDonald and slice the Pirate lead to 8-7. Beal had the last word, though, getting ahead of Pierce Gallo 0-2 before inducing a grounder to short that Berini tossed over to first for the contest’s final out.
Postgame Notes Graphic
East Carolina finished the season with a perfect 5-0 record against Rice to cut the Owls’ lead in the all-time series to 24-14.
The Pirates have now reached the semifinal round of the conference tournament four-straight years.
ECU improved to 3-1 in neutral site contests this campaign.
The Pirates posted four two-out RBI and were 7-for-14 (.500) with runners in scoring position.
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