ECU Falls To Virginia At Charlottesville Regional
Posted June 3, 2023 11:14 p.m. EDT
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – East Carolina fell just short of knocking off No. 7 national seed Virginia Saturday night, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Cavaliers at Davenport Field in the winner's bracket 1-0 game of the Charlottesville Regional.
The Pirates (46-18) will face Oklahoma in an elimination game Sunday at Noon for the right to advance to the regional final versus Virginia later that evening at 6 p.m.
Nick Parker (8-0) notched the win on the mound, allowing just one run on five hits in seven innings of work. Danny Beal (6-2) was saddled with the loss, giving up one run in two frames while walking three and striking out three. Jake Berry threw the final two innings and did not surrender a run to pick up his sixth save of the season.
Kyle Teel and Ethan Anderson finished with a hit and an RBI apiece to pace Virginia (47-12) while Carter Cunningham notched a hit and run scored for ECU.
UVA threatened in the bottom of the first when Griff O'Ferrall led off with a single to center and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Garrett Saylor struck out Jake Gelof swinging before inducing a fly ball to left off the bat of Teel to strand the runner. East Carolina found itself in a jam in the bottom of the second as the Cavaliers loaded the bases with a pair of hits and a Pirate error. However, Jacob Starling collected a grounder up the middle and threw to first for the final out of the inning.
The home side broke through in the bottom of the third. Gelof hit a fly ball to center that Lane Hoover brought back into the field of play after it looked to have cleared the wall, limiting the third baseman to a one-out double. Teel roped a single to right field however that allowed Gelof to score and give his team a 1-0 advantage.
ECU looked to knot things up in the top of the fifth, putting together a two-out rally thanks to consecutive singles by Joey Berini and Alec Makarewicz. Parker escaped without any damage though, coming up with a looking strikeout to leave the runners on the corners.
The Pirates finally dented the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. Cunningham lifted a one-out single to left center and advanced to second on a groundout. Then, with two away, Ryley Johnson singled through the right side and Cunningham was able to cross home safely thanks to some slick base running by Cam Clonch to knot things up at one. Justin Wilcoxen then got a hold of the first pitch he saw but flew out to deep right center to end the frame.
Virginia reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out RBI single by Anderson that scored Ethan O'Donnell who had walked to lead off the half inning. Berry took over from there and retired the six East Carolina batters he faced to preserve the win.
