A solid pitching performance from both sides ended with Penn scoring a lone run in the ninth inning for a 1-0 victory over ECU.
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Photo credit: Gavin Van Kempen (ECU Sports Information)
Gavin Collins’ RBI double in the ninth inning scored Gavin Degnan from second base lifting Penn to a 1-0 win over East Carolina Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
With the win, the Quakers improve to 3-9, while the Pirates drop to 11-8-1 on the season.
Degnan doubled to left center with one out, one of seven hits for Penn on the day, before scoring on Collin’s two-base shot down the left field line. Marty Coyne (1-2) earned the win, tossing eight shutout frames where he struck out four and allowed four hits. Connor Darling notched the save, his second of the year, where he allowed two base runners before retiring the final three batters he faced.
Sean Jenkins (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing one run (earned) on three hits with three strikeouts over three innings of work. Starter Gavin Van Kempen registered a career-high 14 strikeouts over six frames while allowing four hits in his second consecutive quality start. The right-hander struck out multiple batters in five of six innings, netting three in each of the second, fourth and fifth stanzas. In his last outing, which was at Coastal Carolina, Van Kempen fanned 11 batters over seven full innings, giving up one run.
Trailing 1-0 going to the bottom of the ninth, Braden Burress and Matt Lashley were hit by Darling pitches on consecutive at-bats, but the right-hander got Grady Lenahan and Austin Irby to pop out to the catcher before Jack Herring grounded out to second to end the contest.
Lashley had two of the Pirates’ four hits on the day with Herring and Colby Wallace each collecting one. The Pirate pitchers combined to strike out 17 Quakers in the contest.
The two teams will play the rubber-match of the weekend series on Sunday, March 15 with a 1 p.m. start time.