GREENVILLE — Luke Bolka hit a two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the ninth to draw East Carolina within a run but Tulane held on for a 5-4 American Athletic Conference win to even the series with the Pirates on Saturday.
The deciding matchup of the three-game set is at 3:30 p.m. today. The game was changed from the originally-scheduled time of 11:30 a.m. to accommodate CBS Sports Network, which will televise the game nationally.
The Green Wave (22-22, 9-5 AAC) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Hunter Williams hit a two-run homer down the left field line and Jarret DeHart followed with a solo shot to right.
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ECU (23-21, 3-11) got a run back with two down in the second as Dwanya Williams-Sutton was hit by a pitch and Drew Henrickson walked before Bryce Harman had an RBI single to right.
Lex Kaplan singled to score a run for the Wave in the seventh and the lead grew to 5-1 in the ninth on Grant Witherspoon’s run-scoring single.
Travis Watkins led off the Pirates’ half of the ninth with a single to left. A Wave error allowed Williams-Sutton to reach base and Watkins advanced to third. ECU pulled within 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by Wesley Phillips. Bolka, pinch hitting for Harman, cut the lead to 5-4 on a 2-0 count.
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Christian Colletti struck out the next two batters for his seventh save.
Pirates starter Trey Benton (3-3) took the loss. J.P. France (4-3) started and got the win for Tulane.
Eric Tyler and Watkins each had two hits for the Pirates.
Kaplan finished 3-for-3 for the visitors and Witherspoon was 2-for-5 with a triple.
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