Pirates Silenced at the Plate in Midweek Loss to NC State

GREENVILLE, N.C. — What began with early promise quickly faded Tuesday night as East Carolina dropped its fourth straight game, falling 4–1 to NC State inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates were held to just three hits on the night and never led, as the Wolfpack capitalized on defensive miscues and a dominant stretch from freshman reliever Anderson Nance to earn a midweek road win.

With the loss, ECU falls to 20–14 on the season and 13–9 at home.

Another Slow Start

NC State opened the scoring in the first inning with a solo home run to right by Eli Hogue. An inning later, a throwing error by shortstop Alex Bouche led to another run, as the Wolfpack executed a bunt RBI groundout to make it 2–0.

A dropped fly ball by right fielder Kenan Bowman in the fifth allowed a third unearned run to score, and the visitors added one more in the ninth on a clean single to the left side.

ECU’s lone run came in the bottom of the third. Dixon Williams was hit by a pitch, Braden Burress followed with a single, and Braxton Tramel brought home the run on a foul flyout to left. But the Pirates left five runners on base in the second and third innings and never threatened again.

Nance Dominates in Relief

Freshman right-hander Anderson Nance took over in the third and shut the door. He retired 14 straight Pirates at one point and gave up just one hit over five shutout innings to earn the win.

"I thought Nance just shoved it right up our butt," ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said. "Anytime he had to make a big pitch, he did. Hat's off to him."

Mistakes Stack Up

While ECU’s pitching staff allowed just two earned runs on nine hits, the defense gave NC State extra chances. Errors by Bouche and Bowman directly led to runs, and the offense never responded.

Sean Jenkins took the loss, falling to 3–3 after allowing two runs (one earned) over two innings. Nick Moran followed with 4.2 innings of strong relief, allowing just two hits and no earned runs while striking out four. Jake Hunter pitched the final 2.1, allowing one run in the ninth.

"Our pitching was awesome," Godwin said.

Execution Lacking

The Pirates struck out eight times and left six runners on base. For Godwin, the lack of attention to detail continues to be frustrating.

"A lot of time it looks like this team hasn't been coached. I promise you they have been," he said. "We're still messing up when we're supposed to square around on a bunt versus a sac drag, and we still don't know how to do that — when we practice it more than any team in the country."

Accountability and Frustration

"We did not play well, once again in front of a big crowd, so I apologize to our fans," Godwin said. "Our fans were ready to erupt and we didn't do anything to help get them into the game. That's on me. I'll take all the blame for that. We've got to figure out the right guys to play. We didn't play good defense."

"That's a tough pill to swallow," Godwin added. "You got to have pride in East Carolina and in this dag on transactional crappy world that we're in college athletics, you got to have pride in the uni, man.

"I've a lot of pride in this uniform. I freaking wore it as a player and I've worn it for a coach for a long time, and we've got to get a lot of guys to buy into that."

What’s Next

East Carolina, now 20–14 overall and 6–3 in American Athletic Conference play, will try to regroup as it heads to Memphis this weekend for a three-game AAC series beginning Friday night.