ECU baseball sweeps USF in AAC tournament semifinals to clinch spot in championship game

CLEARWATER, Fla. (WITN) – Top seed East Carolina scored 14 unanswered runs to defeat No. 8 South Florida 14-7 Saturday night to advance to the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship game for the second-straight season.

ECU becomes the first team in tournament history to lose its opening game and win its way back to the championship. The Pirates defeated the Bulls earlier in the day 3-1 thanks to Garrett Saylor’s 8 inning gem where he only allowed one run on two hits.

In game two, Josh Moylan and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart each had three hits. Jacob Starling drove in five runs, thanks largely to his second-inning grand slam.

Landon Ginn closed out both semifinal games with solid relief pitching. He went 1 inning and closed out a bases-loaded jam in game one. He went 1.1 innings in and allowed no runs in game two.

The Pirates improved to 45-16 with the two Saturday wins.

The championship is Sunday at Noon and televised on ESPNNews.