GREENVILLE — Home runs from Carter Cunningham and Jacob Starling helped support four East Carolina pitchers who combined for 13 strikeouts in a 7-0 shutout of Rider at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday.
The No. 11 Pirates won the series with the Broncs and will go for a sweep on Sunday at 2 p.m.
ECU’s dominance on the mound included four and two-thirds innings from starting left-hander Zach Root (1-0), who allowed three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Jaden Winter pitched one and one-third innings with no hits, no walks and a pair of strikeouts. Erik Ritchie tossed two innings, yielding one hit and no walks while fanning three.
Drew Bryan pitched the ninth, retiring the next three after a leadoff single.
The contest was completed in two hours, 50 minutes as a crowd of 5,102 looked on.
“The pitchers were pushing the pace and keeping the infielders on their toes,” said Pirates coach Cliff Godwin. “The pitchers did a good job.”
ECU took the lead on Cunningham’s solo homer to left in the second. Dixon Williams provided a 2-0 lead later in the inning as he came home on a grounder by Joey Berini.
Starling homered to left in a 4-run third inning, which included RBI singles from Williams and Ryan McCrystal.
Starling scored on a wild pitch in the fourth for the final run.
Leadoff batter Ryley Johnson, Starling and Cunningham had two hits each as the Pirates outhit the visitors, 12-5.
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