ECU baseball 2 wins away from AQ to NCAA tournament

By ECU Media Relations
Published in Sports on May 22, 2015 1:46 PM

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ECU Media Relations

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- East Carolina earned an "off" day in the second annual American Athletic Conference baseball tournament with a 3-1 victory over Tulane on Thursday evening.

The second-seeded Pirates (38-20 overall) face either Tulane or UConn at 1 p.m. on Saturday. ECU needs just one win to reach Sunday's tournament final, while Tulane and UConn would have to beat the Pirates twice to advance.

Evan Kruczynski and Joe Ingle combined for 10 strikeouts for East Carolina, which had just five hits on the day. Kruczynski scattered three hits and allowed just one unearned run with seven strikeouts to improve to 8-4 on the year.

Ingle registered his seventh save of the season with 22/3 innings of shutout relief with three strikeouts.

The Pirates broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning when Reid Love's bases-loaded fly ball to center field allowed Garrett Brooks to score from third. Garrett Brooks drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth to give the Pirates a 3-1 cushion.

Ingle retired the side in order in the top of the ninth to secure the win.

Charlie Yorgen had two hits for ECU.