ECU Defeats South Florida, 7-4 | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    CLEARWATER, Fla.     Bryson Worrell drove in four runs and Zach Agnos registered four hits helping No. 23 and top seeded East Carolina to a 7-4 win over South Florida Monday afternoon during opening round action in the 2022 TicketSmarter American Baseball Championships at BayCare Ballpark. With the win, the Pirates extend their winning streak to 15 games and improve to 39-18 on the year, while the Bulls dropped to 28-28 on the season.

    Trailing 4-3 going to the bottom of the sixth, ECU put up a four-spot thanks to Worrell's first career grand slam and 13th home run of the year. With two outs and facing flame-thrower Orion Kerkering, who entered the game in the sixth, Joey Berini reached on an infield single to get the rally started. Agnos followed with his fourth hit of the game, a single up the middle, then Lane Hoover loaded the bases with an infield bunt single. Worrell stepped to the plate and took a 1-0 offering from Kerkering to left field giving the Pirates a 7-4 lead.

    Agnos (3-0) earned the win tossing 1.2 scoreless frames of relief with one strikeout. Ben Terwilliger notched his fifth save of the season tossing two scoreless frames where he allowed a hit and struck out a pair. Starter C.J. Mayhue went four-plus frames where he didn't allow a run but gave up three hits with a walk and two punch outs. Trey Yesavage (1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 Rs, 2 Ks) and Carter Spivey (0.1 IP, 2 Hs, 2 Rs, 1 BB) also threw out of the bullpen.

    Kerkering (5-7) suffered the loss after being touched for four runs (all earned) on four hits with a pair of strikeouts in one inning of relief. Starter Brad Lord gave up three runs (all earned) on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Nolan Hudi (1.1 IP, 1 K), Tanner Mink (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 K) and Caleb Pundsack (0.1 IP) each saw time in relief for the Bulls.

    The Pirates opened the scoring on an RBI triple by Josh Moylan that scored Alec Makarewicz in the bottom of the second. ECU made it 3-0 in the third after Agnos scored on a wild pitch and Worrell came around to score on an RBI single by Ben Newton.

    In the sixth, the Bulls finally got on the board thanks to Nelson Rivera's grand slam making it a 4-3 South Florida lead. Carmine Lane led off with a single, which was followed by a bunt single by Drew Brutcher. After Spivey took over on the mound for the Pirates, Ben Rozenblum moved the runners up to second and third on his sac bunt. Daniel Cantu drew a walk to load the bases and Rivera cleared the bases on his third home run of the season. The inning continued when Marcus Brodil tripled chasing Spivey from the game. Agnos stepped in and got Bobby Boser to fly out to Worrell in center and with Brodil trying to tag up from third, Worrell threw a dart home from 370 feet and Newton applied the tag at home for a double play and ending the Bulls threat to add more runs.

    Offensively, the Pirates tallied 12 hits with Agnos leading all hitters with four. Newton and Hoover each added two, while Berini, Makarewicz, Moylan and Worrell had one. Worrell tied his career-high with four RBI coming on ECU's second grand slam of the 2022 campaign.

    ECU returns to the diamond on Thursday, May 26 when it squares off against fourth-seeded Cincinnati at 1 p.m. (ET) on ESPN+.