FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb (6-8) baseball team was handed an 11-8 loss against East Carolina (6-6) on Tuesday evening at Segra Stadium.
Junior Tanner Thomas led the Runnin' Bulldogs after going 3-for-6 from the dish while redshirt senior Nick Capozzi finished the game with a pair of RBIs.
Gardner-Webb struck for an early run in the top of the first following an RBI single off the bat of Thomas, scoring junior Merik Carter, who singles and advanced to scoring position after a failed pickoff attempt.
The Pirates knotted the game at 1-1 in the home half of the first, but GWU grabbed the lead back in its next at-bat as senior Lawson Knight provided an RBI single up the middle for the 'Dawgs.
However, East Carolina came back with a 5-spot in the bottom of the frame, the big blow coming off the bat of Austin Irby, who cranked a three-run homerun to right field, staking the Pirates to a 6-2 lead.
The scoring continued for the Runnin' Bulldogs in the third, plating two more runs while trimming the deficit to 6-4. Redshirt senior Garrett Macias collected an RBI hit while Capozzi tallied his first RBI of the game in the frame.
After ECU pushed the advantage to 7-4 with a single run in the fourth, Gardner-Webb put up four runs over the fifth and sixth innings to take an 8-7 lead in the middle innings. During the 4-0 unanswered run, four different players collected RBIs for the visitors.
However, East Carolina scored the final four runs of the game, all in the seventh inning, eventually taking the contest 11-8.
Gardner-Webb will be back in action on Friday, March 7 as it welcomes Youngstown State to town for a three-game series at John Henry Moss Stadium. Game one is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Bill Masters Field.
