NORFOLK, VA- Keyed by two-run RBI hits from Charlie Yorgen and Luke Lowery in the 12th inning East Carolina defeated ODU, 12-7 Sunday afternoon in a C-USA contest at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. ECU is now 21-15 overall and 9-6 in C-USA while the Monarchs are 22-15 overall and 10-8 in C-USA. Despite the loss, ODU has now won four straight league series.
Josiah Burney and Jordan Negrini each knocked in two runs for the Monarchs, while Burney, PJ Higgins, Taylor Ostrich and Josh Eldridge each had two hits on the day. Josiah Burney hit .615 for the ECU series with eight hits in 12 at-bats and five RBI. Jordan Negrini was second on the team at .455 for the weekend.
ECU had a season high 22 hits in the game led by Zach Houchins with four, followed by Ian Townsend, Charlie Yorgen and Garrett Brooks with three each.
ECU took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Ian Townsend, then firstbaseman Bryce Harman belted a two-run homer.
The Monarchs came right back in the bottom half of the fifth with PJ Higgins leading off with a double and Josiah Burney followd with his sixth homer of the season over the rightfield wall to put ODU back in front 5-4. ODU added two more runs on RBI doubles from Jordan Negrini and Josh Eldridge for a 7-4 lead.
ECU cut the lead to 7-5 with a one-out solo homer from Zach Houchins in the eighth inning. The Pirates then tied the game in the ninth. Charlie Yorgen reached on an ODU error and Garrett Brooks followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs Joshua Lovick sacrifice fly plated Yorgen and Brooks scored on Dylan Brown’s single sending the game into extra innings, the sixth this year for ODU.
In the 12th, Ian Townsend singled in Drew Reynolds for an 8-7 Pirate lead. Yorgen then doubled home Townsend and Zach Houchins for a 10-7 lead. Luke Lowery finished the Pirate scoring with a two-run single which brought home Yorgen and Bryce Harman and a 12-7 ECU lead.
The Monarchs threatened in the bottom of the 12th as Burney and Ostrich had back-to-back singles, followed by Negrini getting hit with a pitch to load the bases with no outs, but ECU reliever and winning pitcher Drew Reynolds (2-0) retired the next three Monarchs to get out of the jam.
For the weekend, a total 3,467 fans came out for hte three-game series against ECU. 1751 on Friday night was the second largest crowd ever at the Bud, followed by 992 on Saturday and 727 on Sunday.
ODU returns to action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg against William and Mary in a Optima Health Challenge contest. Listen to the game live on Star1310 AM with Ted Alexander.
ECU 010 030 012 005=12-22-2
ODU 210 040 000 000 =7-11-2
ECU: Lucroy, Williams(2), Mabry(5), Reynolds(9) and Yorgen, Tyler(7)
ODU: Diaz, Bainbridge (5), Harris(5), Bishop(6), Gero(7), Tomchick(11), Alexander(12) and Higgins, Livers(8), Sinnen(11)
HR: ECU-Houchins(1), Harman(4); ODU- Burney(6) WP: Reynolds(2-0) LP: Tomchick (1-2)