By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Freshman Davin Whitaker laced a two-run single through a drawn-in infield in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday as the East Carolina Pirates beat UTSA, 8-7, denying the Roadrunners their first 40-win season in program history.
UTSA won the opener of the series Friday night, 8-5, to clinch the American Athletic Conference regular-season title outright. The Roadrunners followed with a 7-6 victory in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday for their 10th straight win.
But in the second game, the Pirates scored two runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to avoid the sweep and put a stop to UTSA’s second double-digit win streak of the season.
Earlier in the season, the Roadrunners won 14 in a row. The games were played this weekend in Greenville, N.C., home of the Pirates, who had won five straight AAC regular-season crowns before UTSA seized the title this week.
The second game of Saturday’s doubleheader started with offensive flurries by both teams early and then settled in the middle innings into a pitchers’ duel between UTSA starter Braylon Owens and East Carolina’s Sean Jenkins.
In the eighth, the Roadrunners broke through against Jenkins, scoring two runs — only one of them earned — to take a 7-4 lead. The Pirates retaliated with two runs of their own in the bottom half against the UTSA bullpen.
Walker Barron brought home the first run on a bases-loaded infield single. Braden Burress followed with an RBI single through the right side that brought the Pirates to within 7-6.
In the ninth, with Christian Okerholm on the mound for the Roadrunners, Colby Wallace opened the inning with a single up the middle. Austin Irby then worked an 11-pitch walk to put runners at first and second base.
Ryley Johnson, who hit a first-inning grand slam for East Carolina, put down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third. After the play, Johnson crumpled to the ground with an apparent injury. A few UTSA players helped Johnson take a few steps before East Carolina staff and players aided his exit the rest of the way.
Whitaker, who came to the plate with only eight hits and a .190 batting average, connected on a pitch from Okerholm and drove it up the middle as two runs scored to end the game. UTSA had the infield drawn in with no chance to knock the ball down.
For the Roadrunners, Mason Lytle had three hits, including a double and an RBI. James Taussig produced two hits and two RBI. Norris McClure, Lorenzo Morresi and Juan Maldonado Jr. each had a hit and one RBI apiece. Owens pitched seven innings, yielding four runs on four hits and five walks. He walked five and struck out two.
The winning pitcher was East Carolina’s Lance Williams (2-1). Williams entered as a reliever in the top of the ninth and retired three straight batters with a base runner at first. Okerholm (3-1) was the loser as he worked one and a third innings at the end, yielding three runs on five hits.
Records
UTSA 39-11, 20-4
East Carolina 28-23, 12-12
Coming up
Rice at UTSA, three-game series, Thursday through Saturday
(end of regular season)
AAC tournament, May 20-25, at Clearwater, Fla.
(UTSA will be the No. 1 seed)
Notable
The Roadrunners have won 39 games only two other times in their history. They did it in 1994 (39-18) and again in 2008 (39-19). UTSA will try to break the record next week at home when they host the Rice Owls in a three-game series starting Thursday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.
By taking two of three games from the Pirates, the Roadrunners are now eight for eight in the AAC. So far, they have played eight three-game series and have won them all, including four of them by sweeps.
After sweeping Memphis at home two weeks ago and sweeping South Florida on the road last weekend, UTSA was trying to make it three in a row against East Carolina, only to come up shot by one run.