GREENVILLE — Alec Bohm hit two home runs and finished with six RBIs as No. 18 Wichita State blasted No. 16 East Carolina 14-3 on Thursday night in the opening contest of a three-game American Athletic Conference series.
The Shockers took a 1-0 lead on Bohm’s sixth homer of the season, a solo shot to right-center in the top of the first. The visitors scored runs in eight of nine innings in improving to 19-4 overall and 1-0 in the AAC.
ECU (18-6, 2-2) tied the score in the bottom of the first on Bryant Packard’s fourth homer of the season.
Wichita State went ahead to stay on an RBI single by Gunnar Troutwine in the second inning.
Codi Heuer (5-0) allowed two runs in five innings for the Shockers.
“We couldn’t put them away tonight,” said Pirates coach Cliff Godwin. “We didn’t execute pitches and you have to give a lot of credit to them.
“They are the best offensive team we have faced this year and when we made mistakes, they made us pay for it. We couldn’t bring anybody out of the bullpen that had an answer for them, so we will need to be better on the mound tomorrow. We also need to be better offensively and a tick better defensively if we plan on winning.”
Pirate starter Trey Benton fell to 4-3 with his second straight loss, giving way to the bullpen in the third. Alec Burleson, West Covington, Matt Bridges, Zach Barnes, Austin Covers and Sam Lanier made relief appearances in the setback.
Keylan Kilgore, Clayton McGinness and Robby Evans followed Heuer to the mound for Wichita State.
Packard finished with three of ECU’s 10 hits. Spencer Brickhouse and Brady Lloyd had two hits each. Jake Washer had an RBI double in the ninth.
Turner Brown, Drew Henrickson and Packard scored runs for the Pirates.
The Shockers totaled 20 hits.
The series continues with the second game on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
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