FAYETTEVILLE — No. 11 East Carolina evened its series with No. 15 North Carolina on Saturday with a 7-4 win at Segra Stadium.
The Pirates built a 7-0 lead in support of starting left-hander Zach Root and held on despite a UNC rally that brought the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.
Root (2-0) went seven innings, allowing three hits with no runs, no walks and seven strikeouts.
“Zach Root, we needed him to be good today and he was really good,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network. “They’re a really good offensive team and the way he pitched — he made some really big pitches.”
Carter Cunningham and Jacob Starling had four hits each for the Pirates, who outhit the Tar Heels, 15-7.
Cunningham’s RBI double in a 2-run third put ECU ahead to stay. Starling followed with a single to left to bring in Cunningham.
The Pirates extended the lead to 4-0 in the fifth on a single to left by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart that scored Cunningham and Starling.
Three runs in the seventh were produced on a bases-loaded walk to Dixon Williams as well as sacrifice flies by Bristol Carter and Justin Wilcoxen.
UNC scored three runs in the eighth via the long ball as Alberto Osuna had a solo shot and Vance Honeycutt, a 2-run blast.
Osuna had an RBI single in the ninth. The Tar Heels had runners at first and third with two away before Danny Beal got his first save of the season with a line out to third on a full count pitch.
“I liked the fight,” Godwin said. “You lose two 1-run games, one at Campbell and one at North Carolina, you feel defeated a little bit. We’ve been talking about losses as a learning opportunity. Stay strong. … We bounced back today.”
The deciding game of the series is in Greenville on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“Clark-LeClair (Stadium) and the Jungle,” Godwin said. “I hope that place is rocking.”
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