ORLANDO — East Carolina overcame a 4-1 deficit after three innings for an 11-6 win at Central Florida on Sunday, taking the American Athletic Conference series two games to one after dropping the opener.
The Pirates (18-5, 2-1 AAC) scored four times in the fourth inning and maintained the upper hand with the help of a four-run sixth.
ECU was ranked as high as No. 18 nationally this past week. UCF (18-8, 1-2) had a No. 20 ranking. New polls will be released Monday.
Bryant Packard, Connor Litton and Drew Henrickson each drove in two runs for the Pirates.
Packard led off the game with a home run to center.
For ECU in the fourth, Litton had an RBI double, Brady Lloyd and Chandler Jenkins had run-scoring singles, and Seth Caddell had a sacrifice fly.
Spencer Brickhouse had a sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Packard for a 6-4 Pirates lead.
Henrickson had a two-run double in the sixth, Packard had a sacrifice fly and Turner Brown had a run-scoring hit.
Matt Bridges (1-0) got the win in relief of starter Tyler Smith. Ryan Ross, Sam Lanier, Gavin Williams and Zach Barnes worked effectively out of the bullpen.
“This was a great series win for us, going on the road and playing a really good team,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin. “We didn’t pitch well, but offensively we hung in there and got to their bullpen. It was good to see Gavin get back out there and he along with (Zach) Barnes really shut the door over the final three innings.”
The Pirates continue league play with a three-game home series against Wichita State that gets underway on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
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