GREENVILLE, N.C. (ECU ATHLETICS) – East Carolina put together one of its best performances of the season in all aspects of the game Sunday afternoon, picking up a 6-1 victory over Virginia Tech to close out the LeClair Classic inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
With the victory, ECU finished the round-robin event at 2-1 while the Hokies and Kent State also won two of three.
The Pirates (5-6) shut down a high-powered Hokie (8-3) offense that entered the contest batting .351, limiting the visitors to five hits of which four were singles. Conversely, East Carolina collected eight hits including a double by Braden Burress and a two-run home run off the bat of Alex Bouche that opened the scoring in the fifth.
Ethan Young turned in another fantastic outing in middle relief, earning his first victory in a Pirate uniform by allowing just one earned run with six strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Brad Pruett locked down his first save with an identically long effort during which he scattered a single hit and struck out six. Grant Manning (1-1) was saddled with the loss after surrendering three runs on four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in 4.0 frames.
Bouche and Dixon Williams chipped in with two hits apiece to pace the ECU offense while Burress scored a run and drove in two. Sam Tackett went 2-for-3 and accounted for Virginia Tech’s lone RBI.
Pirate starter Lance Williams retired the Hokies in order in the top of the first before stranding a runner at second via a looking strikeout in the top of the second. Young worked East Carolina out of another tight spot in the top of the fifth, leaving a pair of Virginia Tech runners in scoring position with a strikeout and an inning-ending groundout.
ECU eventually broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fifth. Walker Barron sparked the rally with a one-out single to left center before Bouche got hold of a 1-0 pitch and sent it sailing into the Jungle in left to give the Pirates a 2-0 advantage. Tackett drew his club within a run in the top of the sixth via an RBI single, but Michael Kalinich restored the two-run margin with a sacrifice fly in the home half of the inning.
With Young and Pruett holding things down on the mound, East Carolina put the game away in the eighth with a three spot. Austin Irby led off with a single to left before Kalinich followed with a base knock right through the left side of the infield. A passed ball moved the runners into scoring position and the speedy Burress delivered a two-run double that tailed into the right center gap to make it 5-1. Kenan Bowman then wrapped up the scoring by walking, stealing second and crossing home on a throwing error. Pruett worked around a two-out single in the top of the ninth to wrap up the win.
Postgame Notes
- ECU improved to 5-3 inside Clark-LeClair Stadium this season and 63-14 since the start of the 2023 campaign.
- East Carolina reduced Virginia Tech’s lead in the all-time series to 9-7.
- The Pirate pitching staff held the Hokies to a 1-for-9 showing with runners in scoring position.
- Williams and Barron now both own seven-game hitting streaks while Barron has reached base safely in all 11 games this year.
Up Next: East Carolina plays its second game of the season inside a minor league park Tuesday evening when it heads to Fayetteville for a non-conference contest versus Gardner-Webb. First pitch inside Segra Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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