Three East Carolina pitchers combined to strike out nine and limit JMU to one earned run in a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon in a non-conference baseball game at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
ecu won the series to improve to 2-1 while JMU fell to 1-2.
ryan williams earned the win, his second of the weekend, with four shutout innings of relief and six strikeouts. He followed starter Tyler Bolton, who allowed two runs, one earned, in four innings. Drew Reynolds tossed the ninth with two strikeouts for the save.
Starter Patrick Toohers (Florham Park, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) took the loss after allowing three runs, one earned, and six hits in four innings.
Seven JMU hits were scattered among seven different batters with junior left fielder Chad Carroll (Oakton, Va./Oakton) picking up the only RBI of the day with a single, walk and run scored.
Outfielder Dylan Brown and shortstop Kirk Morgan had two-hit games for the Pirates with Morgan adding an RBI and a walk while Brown scored twice. ecu stole five bases in the game.
Tied 1-1 after the first inning, ecu broke through with two unearned runs to claim the lead for good in the fourth. The bases were clear with two outs when singles by Brown and Reid Love put two runners on. An error allowed the go-ahead run to score. Morgan added an RBI single for another unearned run.
Singles by freshman center fielder Ky Parrott (Herndon, Va./Herndon) and senior catcher Nick Merullo (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) in the fifth were followed by a Carroll RBI single to cut the deficit to one. However, the Dukes managed just three base runners over the final four frames while ecu added an insurance run in the eighth on a Brown triple and a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Ben Fultz.
JMU will play its home opener this week, currently scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Longwood.
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Chris Graham
