Baseball Drops Series Opener at East Carolina, 15-8

Friday, April 28

Greenville, N.C.

5:30 p.m.

Tulane University

21-22, 8-5

East Carolina

23-20, 3-10

Tulane

East Carolina

Photo by: Parker Waters

Baseball Drops Series Opener at East Carolina, 15-8

Apr 28, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Tulane baseball fell to East Carolina, 15-8, Friday evening in their American Athletic Conference series opener at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Green Wave (21-22, 8-5 American) took the quick lead with a run in the top of the first inning, but found itself trailing the Pirates (23-20, 3-10 American), 12-3, after four innings. The Wave chipped at the deficit with runs in the third and fourth innings, then put up a four-spot in the sixth inning, and a run in the seventh. ECU scored two runs in the first inning, four in the second and six in the fourth, then added three single-run innings.

Eight Tulane players collected a hit, as the Wave totaled 13 hits, and Grant Brown, Kody Hoese and Paul Gozzo all tallied two RBI. Brown scored twice, and he and Willsey each homered. Evan Kruczynski (2-2) went 5.2 innings and earned the win, while Corey Merrill (6-3) pitched 3.1 innings and took his first loss since March 10, ending a streak of six starts without a loss.

Grant Witherspoon started the game with a base hit into center field, then was balked to second and scored after consecutive groundouts by Lex Kaplan and Hunter Williams. The Pirates scored twice in the bottom of the first on a pair of doubles by Bryant Packard and Turner Brown. Four singles and a walk produced four runs for ECU in the second to make the score 6-1.

Tulane cut into the deficit with a leadoff home run in the third by Jake Willsey and a solo home run in the fourth by Grant Brown. Willsey's eighth homer of the year cleared the wall down the left field line and tied him for the team lead, while Brown's third homer of the season landed among the trees beyond the wall in left center.

East Carolina, however, scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk, followed by a grand slam by Travis Watkins to make the score 12-3. The Pirates added a run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth that made it 13-3.

Tulane responded with a spirited four-run sixth inning, as Kaplan led off the frame with a double that bounced off first base and down the right field line. He later scored on a two-run single up the middle by Kody Hoese, and Paul Gozzo struck an 0-2, two-out pitch into left field to plate two runs and make the score, 13-7.

The Green Wave added a run in the seventh when Hunter Williams singled and scored on a groundout by Brown. ECU made the score 15-8 with a run in the sixth when Watkins scored on an RBI groundout, and a wild pitch produced a run in the eighth inning.

Burton Schnake pitched 3.1 innings in relief of Merrill – the freshman's longest relief outing of the season – and Ted Andrews and Chris Oakley each tossed 0.2 innings. Oakley threw two pitches, and induced an inning-ending double play in the eighth.

The second game of the series is at 3 p.m. CT Saturday. The game can be heard on 88.3 FM WRBH and the TuneIn Radio app. Live video is available for free through the ECU website, and links to the live video and to live stats can be found on www.TulaneGreenWave.com.

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East Carolina 15, Tulane 8 (Apr 28, 2017 at Greenville, N.C.)
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Tulane.............. 101 104 100 - 8 13 1 (21-22, 8-5 American)
East Carolina....... 240 611 01X - 15 14 0 (23-20, 3-10 American)
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Pitchers: Tulane - MERRILL, Corey; SCHNAKE, Burton(4); ANDREWS, Ted(7); OAKLEY, Chris(8) and
GOZZO, Paul. East Carolina - KRUCZYNSKI, Evan; ROSS, Ryan(6); KIRKPATRICK, Davis(7) and
WATKINS, Travis.
Win-KRUCZYNSKI, Evan(2-2) Loss-MERRILL, Corey(6-3) T-3:23 A-2513
HR TLN - BROWN, Grant (3); WILLSEY, Jake (8).
HR ECU - WATKINS, Travis (6).

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Next Event

East Carolina

W, 5-4

Apr 29 (Sat)

3:00 p.m.

Box Score Recap ECU Video Listen Preview Live stats History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: KRUCZYNSKI, Evan (2-2)

L: Merrill, Corey (6-3)

Tulane

Batting:

2B: Kaplan, Lex 1 ; DeHart, Jarret 1

HR: Brown, Grant 1 ; Willsey, Jake 1

RBI: Williams, Hunter 1 ; Brown, Grant 2 ; Hoese, Kody 2 ; Willsey, Jake 1 ; Gozzo, Paul 2

Base Running:

RUNS: Witherspoon, Grant 1 ; Kaplan, Lex 1 ; Williams, Hunter 1 ; DeHart, Jarret 1 ; Brown, Grant 2 ; Hoese, Kody 1 ; Willsey, Jake 1

East Carolina

Batting:

2B: PACKARD, Bryant 1 ; BROWN, Turner 1

HR: WATKINS, Travis 1

RBI: TYLER, Eric 2 ; PACKARD, Bryant 4 ; BROWN, Turner 2 ; WILLIAMS-SUTTON, D. 1 ; WATKINS, Travis 4 ; HARMAN, Bryce 1

SF: PACKARD, Bryant 1

Base Running:

RUNS: BAKER, Dusty 2 ; YORGEN, Charlie 2 ; TYLER, Eric 2 ; PACKARD, Bryant 2 ; BROWN, Turner 1 ; WILLIAMS-SUTTON, D. 1 ; WATKINS, Travis 3 ; HENRICKSON, Drew 1 ; HARMAN, Bryce 1