GREENVILLE — East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin declared Saturday after a doubleheader split with Tulane that his team would be ready for the final game of the series on Sunday. The Pirates made that vow truthful with a 9-1 win over the Green Wave at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
ECU (33-10) crept ahead of the visitors in the American Athletic Conference standings, improving to 15-5 in the league with a 3-1 series win. Tulane slipped to 25-17 overall and 14-5 in the AAC.
Thomas Francisco singled in the bottom of the first to score Connor Norby for a 1-0 ECU lead after Norby had walked and stolen second.
That was the start of a productive day for Francisco, who homered to right center in the third for a 2-0 advantage and cleared the fence again in the fifth for a 4-1 lead.
Seth Caddell’s RBI single in the fourth had brought in Jake Agnos as the Pirates went ahead 3-1.
Josh Moylan followed Francisco’s second homer with a single through the left side before Alec Makarewicz connected for his sixth homer this season, extending the margin to 6-1.
Moylan had an RBI single in the seventh and Agnos went for a jog around the bases with a solo shot to right in the eighth. Seth Caddell walked in the eighth and went to second on a walk to Bryson Worrell. Caddell moved to third on a fly by Ryder Giles and came in on a passed ball.
Francisco went 3-for-5 with three RBIs.
Carson Whisenhunt (5-0) started and delivered three scoreless innings before the Pirates turned to a string of relievers that included A.J. Wilson, Danny Beal, Josh Grosz, Nick Logusch, Carter Spivey, Cam Colmore and Matt Bridges.
ECU starts a 4-game series at Cincinnati with a doubleheader that begins Friday at 1 p.m.
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