GREENVILLE — After a dominant start, No. 9 East Carolina held off Wichita State for a 6-4 American Athletic Conference win at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Friday night.

The Pirates (29-8, 9-4 AAC) built a 6-0 lead as starting right-hander Trey Yesavage (8-1) short-circuited the Shockers (21-17, 7-6) with a career-high 15 strikeouts through six and two-thirds innings.

A 7-3 loss to Alabama-Birmingham on Friday night at home for Texas-San Antonio dropped the Roadrunners into a tie for first with ECU in the league standings.

“He was special,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin of Yesavage on the Pirate radio network, ” … We were short in the bullpen after Tuesday night (14-13 win in 13 innings at William & Mary). It was a special performance.”

ECU went ahead to stay in the bottom of the second inning as Joey Berini and Ryley Johnson had RBI singles.

Ryan McCrystal had a run-scoring single for the Pirates in the third and Johnson had a 2-run triple in the fourth.

Jason Wiolcoxen’s sacrifice bunt in the fourth provided a 6-0 lead.

A crowd of 4.264 waited out a 2.5-hour rain delay.

ECU’s 8-9-1 hitters — Colby Wallace, Berini and Johnson — accounted for eight of ECU’s 10 hits.

Ethan Norby turned Friday finisher and recorded his first save by striking out the side in the ninth.’
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The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m. to complete the series.