Baseball Falls at East Carolina, 5-3

Sunday, April 30

Greenville, N.C.

2:30 p.m.

Tulane University

22-23, 9-6

East Carolina

24-21, 4-11

Tulane

East Carolina

Photo by: Parker Waters

Apr 30, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Tulane baseball's ninth-inning comeback attempt fell short in a 5-3 defeat at East Carolina in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Green Wave (22-23, 9-6 American) is now in a five-way tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference standings. The Pirates improved to 24-21 overall and 4-11 in conference play after winning the series this weekend.

Tulane scored a run in the top of the fourth inning to take the 1-0 lead, but East Carolina countered with three runs in the bottom of the frame and added two runs in the seventh. The Green Wave mounted a comeback attempt in the ninth inning, scoring two runs, but came up short.

"We had some opportunities, and sometimes in the game of baseball you have to tip your cap to the opposing pitcher," Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. "He made some pitches, and I thought he pitched well. We left some chances there, but we had the tying run on base in the last inning, and had our leading RBI guy at the plate. He hit the ball pretty well to left center, but it just didn't find the grass. You have to give their team a lot of credit. They won a series last week, and their record in surely not indicative of how good of a team they are. All in all, it was a decent ballgame, but we just came up a little bit short."

Tulane had two walks and a hit batter in the first two innings, but Jarret DeHart collected the team's first hit to lead off the fourth inning. He scored on an RBI double by Kody Hoese to give the Wave a 1-0 lead. Jake Willsey followed with a single, putting runners on the corners with now outs, but both runners were stranded. The Green Wave totaled eight hits and drew five walks in the game, and left 10 runners on base.

East Carolina took the 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with two singles and two doubles, including RBI hits by Turner Brown and Wes Phillips. The Pirates added two runs in the eighth inning on a two-run single by Eric Tyler.

In the ninth, Matt Rowland drove a pinch-hit single through the right side, and after a fielder's choice pop up by Hunter Hope, Sal Gozzo drove a pinch hit single to put runners at first and second with one out. Grant Witherspoon then knocked a base hit through the right side to plate Hope and make it 5-2. Hunter Williams delivered a two-out RBI hit to cut it to 5-3, but DeHart's drive to left center was caught to end the game.

Sam Bjorngjeld (3-3) went 4.0 innings in the start for Tulane. He struck out two batters and walked none, and allowed seven hits, two of which came with two outs in the second inning when a short rain shower passed through and left within the half inning. Jake Agnos (2-2) pitched 7.1 innings and earned the win.

The Green Wave returns home to play host to Southeastern Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Tickets are available through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office in person, or by phone at 504-861-WAVE.

Tulane is tied atop The American standings with Houston, UCF, UConn and USF. The Wave plays its next eight games at home, including two conference series – against UCF (May 5-7) and Houston (May 12-14).

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East Carolina 5, Tulane 3 (Apr 30, 2017 at Greenville, N.C.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tulane.............. 000 100 002 - 3 8 1 (22-23, 9-6 American)
East Carolina....... 000 300 20X - 5 11 0 (24-21, 4-11 American)
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Pitchers: Tulane - BJORNGJELD, Sam; SOLESKY, Chase(5); COLLETTI, Christian(7);
ISSA, Brandon(8); MASSEY, Ross(8) and GOZZO, Paul. East Carolina - AGNOS, Jake; BRIDGES, Matt(8)
and WATKINS, Travis.
Win-AGNOS, Jake(2-2) Loss-BJORNGJELD, Sam(3-3) T-2:51 A-2523
ISSA faced 1 batter in the 8th.