No. 22 ECU Defeats No. 25 Duke, 6-1 | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU Sports.


    Box Score | Postgame Interviews

    GREENVILLE, N.C.     Thomas Francisco's three-run homer in the seventh inning highlighted a four-run frame as No. 22 East Carolina defeated No. 25 Duke 6-1 Tuesday at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 4-0 on the season, while the Blue Devils fall to 2-2.

    Leading 2-1 going to the seventh, Alec Makarewicz drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Bryson Worrell's single down the right field line. Lane Hoover followed with an RBI base hit through the left side plating Makarewicz and putting runners on the corners. After a Hoover stolen base and another Pirate out, Francisco homered to right field clearing the bases for a 6-1 lead.

    Cam Colmore (2-0) earned the win working three innings in relief after starter Carter Spivey exited the game with a blister on his pitching hand. Colmore allowed one run (earned) on four hits while striking out three. In his first career start, Spivey went 1.2 innings with a pair of walk and one strikeout. C.J. Mayhue notched his first career save working a career-best 4.1 scoreless innings allowing a hit, walking one and tying a career-high with six punch outs.

    Josh Nifong (0-1) took the loss giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits with a strikeout in 4.1 innings. Matt Dockman (1.2 IP, 2 Hs, 1 BB, 2 Ks), Richard Brereton (1.0 IP, 4 Rs, 4 Hs, 1 BB, 1 K), Josh Allen (0.2 IP) and Adam Boucher (0.1 IP, 1 BB) closed out the final 3.2 frames.

    For the fourth time this young season, the Pirates jumped out to an early lead thanks to Seth Caddell's second home run of the season, a solo shot to right field, 1-0.

    In the second, Josh Moylan smacked his first career home run to right field pushing the Pirates lead to 2-0.

    The Blue Devils pulled within one, 2-1, thanks to consecutive two-out doubles by Joey Loperfido (left-center) and Michael Rothenberg (right field line). Before Rothenberg's RBI base hit, Loperfido swiped third.

    ECU pounded out double-digit hits for the second-straight contest getting multiple base knocks from Francisco (three), Moylan (two) and Connor Norby (two). Francisco tied his career-high with three RBI, which was originally set against Western Carolina on March 3, 2019.

    The Pirates hit the road for the first time this weekend traveling to Georgia Southern for a three-game series starting Friday, Feb. 26. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. (EST) and will be aired on ESPN+.

    Post-Game Notes:

• ECU improved 152-40 (4-0 in 2021) when scoring first under head coach Cliff Godwin ...
• With the win, ECU improved to 35-41 against nationally-ranked teams under Godwin ...
• Five of the Pirates six runs on the night came with two outs ...
• Caddell smacked his second home run of the season (10th career) that traveled 372 feet ...
• Moylan's first collegiate hit was a solo shot to that traveled 425 feet ... Tallied his first two-hit game of his career ...
• Francisco's three-run homer with two outs in the seventh traveled 366 feet ...
• Norby extended his hit streak to 11-straight games with his single in the sixth ... He tallied his 12th career multi-hit game (third of the season) going 2-for-4 in the game ...
• Bryson Worrell extended his on-base streak to 12 games with his single in the seventh ... With his 2-for-6 performance, he now has 14 career multi-hit and 11 career multi-RBI games ...
• Lane Hoover extended his hit and on-base streak to 11-straight games dating back to the 2020 season with an RBI single in the seventh inning ...