Seth Caddell’s home run in the first inning set the offensive tone and ECU put together another solid outing in beating Charlotte 15-5 in game two of their three game weekend series at Hayes Stadium for their fourth straight win.
Alec Burleson and Connor Norby each went 4 for 5 at the plate and four different Pirates produced at least two runs while Tyler Smith lasted five innings with seven strikeouts against just one earned run to move to 2-1 with the win for ECU.
ECU head coach Cliff Godwin picked up his 212th win to tie Keith LeClair for third place all time at ECU(11-3) in victories.
Ryan Czanstkowski(1-1) yielded seven earned runs on eleven hits in his five innings of work to take the loss for 8-7 Charlotte.
The Pirates wasted little time getting on the scoreboard when Seth Caddell’s first homer of the year put two runs on the scoreboard.
Then a Ryder Giles RBI bunt, Lane Hoover’s RBI double to left and Alec Burleson’s base hit to right in the second frame pushed the ECU lead to 5-0.
In the third inning, Christian Jayne’s RBI base hit up the middle added to the Pirate total at 6-0.
Charlotte got on the scoreboard in the third inning when Dominic Pilolli’s fielder’s infield hit to second base allowed Tate Pennington to score a run.
Ben Newton’s sacrifice bunt allowed Alec Burleson to score after he doubled earlier in the inning to expand the ECU lead to 7-1.
ECU was at it in the sixth frame offensively when Newon’s ground out to first allowed Burleson to score again before a Connor Norby double to left and a Lane Hoover base hit to second allowed Norby to cross home plate to increase the score to 12-1.
A double steal in the eighth frame produced another ECU run when Norby stole third and then scored on a Craig Keuchel throwing error at catcher. Then Nick Barber’s double off the right field wall that allowed Jayne to score from second base before an Alec Makarewicz double to center brought Barber home in a 15-1 route.
Josh Haney lofted a Lane Odom ninth inning offering to right for a Charlotte home run. That was followed by a Todd Elwood base knock to second base that then allowed Pennington to score the second of four ninth inning runs. Dominic Pololli added to the 49er total when his left field single brought Pat Wheeler across home plate. Vazquez’s hit to right allowed Elwood to score.