GREENVILLE, N.C. – The #16 national seed and host East Carolina baseball team scored in all but one inning on Sunday night, as the Pirates exploded for a 19-6 victory over the University of Evansville Purple Aces to force the “if necessary” Regional Final in the Greenville (N.C.) Regional Tournament at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.
“I know that tonight’s game didn’t go how we wanted it to go, but if you would have told us on Wednesday that we would be playing for a regional title on Monday night, we would have taken it,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “Tomorrow is a different day, and I know that our team will bounce back and show the same fight and determination that they have all season long when faced with adversity.”
The teams traded three home runs through the first four innings of play on Sunday night, except for the fact that ECU’s home runs came with men on base, while UE’s were just solo shots, as the Pirates jumped to an early 7-3 lead through four innings.
Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger answered a two-run ECU home run in the first inning with a solo shot of his own to right field for his 16th home run of the year. Then, after UE answered another two-run home run in the second inning with an RBI single by junior second baseman Cal McGinnis, senior designated hitter Kip Fougerousse answered a third ECU home run in the third inning with a solo home run to right field for his team-leading 20th home run of the year. Fougerousse is now one home run shy of Eric Roberts’ single-season home run record, set last year, and he has homered in seven of the last eight games overall.
After ECU added its seventh run of the game in the fourth inning, junior outfielder Harrison Taubert belted a solo home run to left field to cut the ECU lead to 7-4. The Pirates added two runs in the sixth and a single run in the seventh to grab a 10-4 lead, before UE staged one last rally attempt in the seventh inning.
The Purple Aces loaded the bases on a single by senior shortstop Simon Scherry and back-to-back hit-by-pitches, including Shallenberger’s school-record 26th hit-by-pitch of the season. Scherry would score on a ground ball by graduate first baseman Chase Hug, and McGinnis would deliver a sacrifice fly later in the frame, but UE could get no closer than 10-6 in the inning. ECU would explode in the final two innings to provide the final margin of victory.
Graduate third baseman Brent Widder went 2-for-3 with two doubles, as the only Purple Ace with a multi-hit game. Shallenberger, Fougerousse and Taubert all launched home runs for UE.
Evansville (37-24) and East Carolina (46-16) will now meet once again on Monday afternoon at 12 noon eastern/11 a.m. central time in the ‘if necessary’ Regional Final. The winner of Monday’s contest will advance on to face top-seeded Tennessee in the Super Regional Round next weekend. Monday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and seen live on ESPN+.
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The #16 national seed and host East Carolina baseball team scored in all but one inning on Sunday night, as the Pirates exploded for a 19-6 victory over the University of Evansville Purple Aces to force the “if necessary” Regional Final in the Greenville (N.C.) Regional Tournament at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.
“I know that tonight’s game didn’t go how we wanted it to go, but if you would have told us on Wednesday that we would be playing for a regional title on Monday night, we would have taken it,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll. “Tomorrow is a different day, and I know that our team will bounce back and show the same fight and determination that they have all season long when faced with adversity.”
The teams traded three home runs through the first four innings of play on Sunday night, except for the fact that ECU’s home runs came with men on base, while UE’s were just solo shots, as the Pirates jumped to an early 7-3 lead through four innings.
Graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger answered a two-run ECU home run in the first inning with a solo shot of his own to right field for his 16th home run of the year. Then, after UE answered another two-run home run in the second inning with an RBI single by junior second baseman Cal McGinnis, senior designated hitter Kip Fougerousse answered a third ECU home run in the third inning with a solo home run to right field for his team-leading 20th home run of the year. Fougerousse is now one home run shy of Eric Roberts’ single-season home run record, set last year, and he has homered in seven of the last eight games overall.
After ECU added its seventh run of the game in the fourth inning, junior outfielder Harrison Taubert belted a solo home run to left field to cut the ECU lead to 7-4. The Pirates added two runs in the sixth and a single run in the seventh to grab a 10-4 lead, before UE staged one last rally attempt in the seventh inning.
The Purple Aces loaded the bases on a single by senior shortstop Simon Scherry and back-to-back hit-by-pitches, including Shallenberger’s school-record 26th hit-by-pitch of the season. Scherry would score on a ground ball by graduate first baseman Chase Hug, and McGinnis would deliver a sacrifice fly later in the frame, but UE could get no closer than 10-6 in the inning. ECU would explode in the final two innings to provide the final margin of victory.
Graduate third baseman Brent Widder went 2-for-3 with two doubles, as the only Purple Ace with a multi-hit game. Shallenberger, Fougerousse and Taubert all launched home runs for UE.
Evansville (37-24) and East Carolina (46-16) will now meet once again on Monday afternoon at 12 noon eastern/11 a.m. central time in the ‘if necessary’ Regional Final. The winner of Monday’s contest will advance on to face top-seeded Tennessee in the Super Regional Round next weekend. Monday’s game can be heard live in the Tri-State area on 107.1 FM-WJPS and seen live on ESPN+.
