BUIES CREEK — For the fourth time in as many games, East Carolina took an early lead and Wednesday the Pirates made it a springboard to a 10-0 win at Campbell.
ECU (1-3) led each contest at Ole Miss last weekend but was swept.
Junior college transfer T.J. Rials belted a two-run homer in the top of the first for all the support starting right-hander Chris Holba and the ECU bullpen would need.
Holba (1-0) allowed two hits over six innings, striking out four and walking one.
Tyler Smith, Evan Voliva and Davis Kirkpatrick each got an inning of work. Smith had one strikeout. Voliva and Kirkpatrick each fanned two. The trio of relievers did not yield a hit or a walk.
Rials finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Charlie Yorgen went 2-for-2 with three driven in.
ECU outhit the Camels (2-2) by a 10-2 margin. The Pirates left nine runners on base and CU stranded four.
Rials had a two-run single as ECU added three runs in the sixth.
Yorgen had a two-run double in a four-run seventh and Bryant Packard had an RBI triple off the center field fence.
ECU helped another opponent to an attendance record as 1,563 were on hand Wednesday at Jim Perry Stadium, surpassing CU’s previous largest crowd of 1,120 for a game with Gardner-Webb on May 2, 2014. A record Swayze Field throng of 12,117 saw ECU’s season opener at Ole Miss on Friday.
A synthetic playing surface has been installed at CU’s Taylor Field by the Buies Creek Astros of the Carolina League, who will use the facility for two years while a new stadium is built in Fayetteville.
The Pirates start a three-game series at home against La Salle on Friday at 4 p.m.
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