CHARLOTTE — A 3-run homer by Justin Wilcoxen in the fourth inning put East Carolina ahead to stay in a 6-2 nonconference win over Charlotte at Truist Field on Wednesday night.
It was the ninth win in a row for the Pirates (29-8), who extended their lead in the series to 34-5 with their 13th straight triumph over the 49ers (19-17).
The Pirates are ranked No. 7 by D1Baseball this week.
A crowd of 4,678 at the home of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights saw Carter Cunningham homer for a 1-0 ECU lead in the top of the first.
The hosts tied the score at 1 in the third on an RBI double by Jake Cunniungham.
In the fourth, Cam Clonch singled for the Pirates and Alec Makarewicz was hit by a pitch before Wilcoxen homered to right off Andrew Spolyar, who had just come in for A.J. Wilson (0-1), who took the loss.
ECU pushed its lead to 6-1 in the fifth on a 2-run single by Joey Berini.
Blake Jackson had a solo homer for the 49ers in the sixth.
Pirate pitchers Zach Root, Danny Beal (3-1), Landon Ginn and Garrett Saylor limited Charlotte to five hits while striking out 12.
ECU, which is 7-2 in the American Athletic Conference, hits the road for a 3-game league series with Wichita State (21-15, 5-4 AAC) starting Friday at 7 p.m. The Shockers are coming off a 10-4 win at Kansas State on Tuesday night.
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