Rice beat ECU again in baseball on Saturday to take the series and set up Sunday’s final game.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information)
The East Carolina Pirates (29-21-1, 13-10 American) lost a home series for the first time since February, to the Rice Owls (31-20, 13-10 American) on Senior Day with a final score of 5-3.
The Rice Owls started early in the second. With a single that beat the infield shift on two outs, Owl’s second baseman, JC Davis, squares one just barely over the wall to put two up on the board for an early lead.
The pirates were unable to respond in the third but were up in the fourth. Jack Herring leads off the bottom of the fourth with his second single of the game, being the only base runner in two different innings so far for the Pirates. Clutch hitter connoisseur, Michael Kalinich, showed up in a time of need, slamming a 387-foot homer into left center to score two, tying the game with two outs.
Pirates now tie the Owls at the end of the fourth, 2-2.
The fifth and sixth innings remain quiet for both Rice and East Carolina, but the seventh comes with a crooked number for the Owls. Starting with a leadoff double, the Owls moved the runner with a sacrifice bunt. Garnering a hit-by-pitch, the Owls have two on with one out.
After Pirate defense added another out from a bunt, keeping both runners from scoring, Cole Green squares up for a no-doubt three-run homer to bring Rice to the lead for the second time on the day. Score now 5-2, Pirates down three.
Although down in the seventh, Walker Barron responds with a solo homer into the Jungle to cut the deficit down to two.
With Barron’s notch to gain the final run of the game, Rice ultimately solidified the series at Clark-LeClair with a final score of 5-3.
East Carolina totaled seven hits on the day, compared to Rice’s five. The pirates left multiple scoring opportunities, leaving seven on base. Herring accounted for three of the seven hits from the Pirates, with Kalinich and Barron both having a home run on the day.
Although wearing the loss, Ethan Norby had a game against the Owls. Despite two home runs, Norby went 6.2 innings, giving up five hits, one walk and a whopping 10 strikeouts, marking the fourth time this season hitting double-digit strikeouts. Gavin Marley in relief, keeping the Owls at bay with 2.0 innings of work, giving up no runs, hits or walks with three strikeouts.
This series loss marks the first time Rice has taken a series from the Pirates since they joined the American Conference in July of 2023. The loss also marks the first home conference series loss and the first time since opening weekend, when Xavier took two of three in February.
Rice is now in the running in conference, now tied for third with ECU at 13-10, and holding the tiebreaker on the Pirates.
The Pirates look to take the series sweep away from Rice on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST.