Burress Homers Again, Pirates Come Up Short in Midweek Loss to Duke
Braden Burress continued to swing a hot bat Tuesday night, but East Carolina couldn’t recover from a mid-game scoring drought in a 6-4 loss to Duke.
Burress finished 3-for-5 with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates a late spark after falling behind. The junior outfielder now holds a team-best .426 average and has proven to be one of the most reliable bats in ECU’s lineup.
The Pirates wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first. After Burress reached, Dixon Williams doubled, and Braxton Tramel drove in the first run with an infield single. Walker Barron followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 2-0 early.
Tramel had another productive night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Barron added a hit and an RBI as well, while Kenan Bowman came off the bench and scored on Burress’s seventh-inning homer.
Jake Hunter made the start on the mound and was tagged with the loss after two innings of work. Colby Wallace entered briefly in relief before Ethan Young took over, striking out three across three innings. Brad Pruett followed with two scoreless frames, and both Nick Moran and Lance Williams worked the eighth.
Tensions flared late in the game during a controversial moment in the bottom of the eighth. With ECU trailing 5-4 and the bases loaded, Duke’s Tyler Albright took a 3-2 pitch from Williams low for ball four, bringing in a run on an RBI walk. Albright spiked his bat and appeared to say something to Williams while walking to first. ECU head coach Cliff Godwin initially voiced his frustration with the home plate umpire over Albright’s antics, then shifted his attention toward Albright. That prompted Duke head coach Chris Pollard to come out of the dugout, and both managers were ejected during the heated exchange.
East Carolina totaled nine hits and struck out eight on the mound, but also left eight runners on base and issued nine walks. A fielding error in the fourth led to an unearned run that pushed the gap further.
The Pirates (15-10) fell to 1-6 against in-state teams with the setback, and will look to bounce back this weekend at Rice as conference play continues. Duke, a preseason Top 25 team that's been up and down in the early part of the year, improved to 17-9 with the win.