Cougars Wallop East Carolina 8-1

For the second time in as many nights, ECU took an early lead only to have it erased by (14)Houston who went on to an 8-1 game two victory over the Pirates Saturday night at Cougar Field.

Mitch Ullum picked up the win to move to 5-2 on the season. Trey Benton fell to 3-1 with the loss for East Carolina who dips to 18-14 and 0-5 in AAC play.

Corey Julks and Joe Davis homered for Houston while Tyler Bielmowicz added three RBI for the Cougars. Travis Watkins was the only Pirate with more than one hit, going 2 for 4 for the game. The Pirates stranded nine runners on base in their fourteenth loss of the season.

After Eric Tyler doubled in the fourth inning, Travis Watkins knocked him in with a base hit to get the Pirates on the scoreboard with a 1-0 lead.

Houston(22-8/3-2 AAC) answered in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer from Corey Julks, his first of the season, that gave Houston a 2-1 lead.

For the second time this weekend Joe Davis homered for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the Cougars’ lead to 5-1.

After a Corey Julks single and a double to centerfield from Jared Triolo off of ECU pitcher Trey Benton, Benton was lifted and Lael Lockhart was plunked by a Ryan Ross pitch to load the bases for Tyler Bielmowicz. Then matters only got worse for the Pirates when Bielmowicz tripled to right centerfield to score three more Cougar runs to extend the lead to 8-1.

Game three is set for 2 p.m. EDT when East Carolina and Houston wrap up the three-game American Athletic Conference series in Houston.