By: Tobey Schulman
Recap: ECU 4 – FAU 1
FAU started their weekend set against East Carolina Friday night, a series that could only be described as the Owls biggest test at home all season. The #12 ranked team in the country came into the series with a 21-6 record, with a 4-2 conference record.
FAU also came into this game with a 4-2 conference record, as well as a 17-9 overall record. East Carolina would jump ahead early, and their pitching made the Owls unable to make a comeback and take game one.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart got the Pirates on the board in the first inning with a sacrifice flyout that scored Ryley Johnson to give them a 1-0 lead. Jenkins-Cowart would then come up again in the third, and hit a two-run home run, extending the Pirates lead to 3-0.
The Owls couldn’t seem to find an answer for Jenkins-Cowart, he continued to put together productive at bats in the game one win for ECU. He finished the game with three RBIs.
C.J. Williams, despite giving up the home run in the third, put together a decent start. He ended his night with a final stat-line of 6.0 innings pitched, striking out five while giving up three hits, three runs, and four walks. The walks and the errors was what killed the Owls on the defensive end.
The Owls had the exact same number of hits as ECU did, but the four errors made on defense was the difference in ECU scoring more runs.
Trey Yesavage put together a dominant start for the Pirates. He seemed to be borderline unhittable in game one, striking out 11 batters in his 7.0 innings pitched. Yesavage would only allow three hits in his start as well. Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman would come in for relief, and despite giving up a run in the eighth, picked up his third save of the season.
Andrew McKenna would be responsible for the Owls only run in game one. He hit a single to score Brando Leroux in an attempt to spark the offense for a late rally. Emilio Gonzalez and Leroux put together productive days on the offensive end, with Gonzalez recording two hits in his four at bats. They will be relied upon for the next two games to continue to produce against a great ECU pitching staff.
A tough game one for FAU, they look to bounce back in games two and three with Tyler Murphy on the mound for game two, and Trey Beard on the mound for game three.
Photos: Dak Snapped