GREENVILLE — The midweek struggles for No. 8 East Carolina continued with a 9-3 loss to UNC-Wilmington at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Pirates slipped to 19-6 for the season with five of the losses coming on Tuesday or Wednesday.
“We haven’t played well in the midweek,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network. “Not real sure why we can’t get motivated to play an in-state team.”
It was ECU’s second loss to the Seahawks (16-9). The Pirates have also dropped a pair of midweek matchups with Campbell and one to Duke.
UNCW went ahead to stay at 4-2 on a 2-run homer by Tanner Thach to center field in the fifth.
The Seahawks got solo homers from Alec DeMartino and Bryan Arendt in the ninth.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart had a solo shot for ECU in the eighth.
Erik Ritchie (1-1) yielded the blast to Thach and was charged with the loss.
Luke Craig (2-0) held the Pirates scoreless for four and one-third innings for the win. Brett Banks went the final two and one-third innings for his third save.
Seven pitchers saw action for ECU, which had a 12-game winning streak at home halted by UNCW.
The Pirates open American Athletic Conference play at Houston (12-13) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The 3-game series with the Cougars is scheduled to be shown on ESPN+.
“We have not played well in the mid week. Not sure why we can’t get up to play in-state team.” YOU THINK! DID WE PLAY WELL IN LAST YEAR’S MID WEEK OR THE YEAR BEFORE OR EVEN BEFORE THAT. I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU CAN’T SEE THE COMMON DENOMINATOR HERE! YOU KEEP USING PITCHING STAFF WEEK AFTER WEEK AND EXPECT DIFFERENT RESULTS. WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF. YOU CHANGE OR WE WILL KEEP ON LOOSING MID WEEK GAMES!