GREENVILLE — Three East Carolina pitchers combined for a 1-hitter as the No. 15 Pirates completed an American Athletic Conference sweep of Alabama-Birmingham with a 7-1 win at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday.
Freshman left-hander Ethan Norby (1-0) made his first start for the Pirates (20-6, 4-2 AAC) and went four innings. He did not allow a hit while walking four and striking out six.
Danny Beal went three innings with no hits, no walks and four whiffs.
The Blazers (12-15, 1-6) broke up the no-hitter with two out in the ninth on an RBI single by Jake Smallwood after Gavin Lewis Jr. had been hit by a pitch and Nick Hollifield had drawn a walk off Erik Ritchie, who pitched the last two innings. Ritchie issued one walk and had one strikeout.
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Jacob Jenkins-Cowart had an RBI single down the left field line and Ryan McCrystal had a sacrifice fly.
Carter Cunningham’s run scoring single in the second pushed the lead to 3-0. ECU added an unearned run in the third.
Cunningham had a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Bristol Carter’s double brought in Luke Nowak in the seventh and Joey Berini had an RBI single for a 7-0 lead.
ECU had nine hits as Carter and Berini had two each.
The Pirates visit N.C. State on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. start.
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