No.11 ranked East Carolina University (14-4, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) cruised to a 3 game sweep against Columbia University (3-11, 0-0 Ivy League Conference), with games being held March 15th-17th.
The series opener set the tone for the Pirates' commanding weekend series. With a combination of lights out pitching from junior pitcher Trey Yesavage and explosive batting, East Carolina stunned Columbia with a dominant 17-3 victory.
After a home run by the Columbia Lions in the 1st inning, ECU tallied 4 runs of their own after a fielding error, an rbi, and a 2 run homer by junior center fielder Ryley Johnson. The 3rd and 4th innings went on with no runs being scored, keeping the Pirates on top 4-1.
The bats got hot once again for East Carolina in the bottom of the 5th when junior outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart came through with a 2 run RBI. The Pirates went on to score 2 more runs, putting them up 8-1 going into the 6th inning.
In the bottom of the 7th, East Carolina erupted with 8 runs, leaving no doubt that the Pirates would go on to secure the first win of the weekend with a final score of 17-3.
“Oh man we're hot, I mean it's always good coming off a win, series sweep as well,” said Ryley Johnson.” “But you see we pitch good, we play good defense, we hit good and good outcomes always come.”
The second game of the weekend also came convincingly with an 8-0 shut-out win over Columbia with a strong performance from sophomore pitcher Zach Root. Jacob Jenkins Cowart started the scoring off in the bottom of the 3rd with a RBI groundout to second base.
After another run in the 4th inning, Sophomore infielder Dixon Williams knocked in 2 more runs after he homered to right field, giving the Pirates some momentum going into the 7th. After 4 more late game runs, the Pirates ended the game 8-0, and put East Carolina up 2-0 on the weekend.
“Well Root was really good,” said head coach Cliff Codwin after the win. “We needed him to be really good today cause it took us a little time to get our feet underneath us offensively.”
Heading into the final game of the series, East Carolina quickly found themselves up 4-0 after the first 3 innings. Columbia knocked in 1 run in the top of the 4th, but Ryley Johnson answered back with a homer to right center field.
The Pirates found themselves up 7-1 as they approached the 8th inning, with no runs being scored in innings 6-7. Columbia didn’t want to go down without a fight, and raked in 3 runs in the 8th, and 2 more in the top of the 9th.
Although Columbia’s comeback fell short, it was a tense game on the final day as the weekend series came to a close with East Carolina winning 8-6. The Pirates move to 14-4 on the season, winning their last 2 weekend series and a rivalry game.
After completing the sweep against Columbia, that makes 7 straight wins for the pirates. East Carolina looks to stay in the win column and make it 8 straight wins after they face Elon University (9-10, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Conference) on Tuesday, March 19th.
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