RICHMOND — East Carolina rolled to an 11-1 win over Virginia Commonwealth at The Diamond on Wednesday as the Pirates improved to 9-8.

ECU set the tone with four runs in the top of the first as Braden Burress led off the game with a single to right. He stole second with one out and scored on a double to left center by John Collins.

A ground out allowed Collins to move to third and Drew Downs walked. Collins scored on a wild pitch and Downs took second. Walks to Colby Wallace, Alex Bouche and Alex Peltier pushed the lead to 4-0.

A 2-run homer by Dixon Williams, an unearned run and an RBI double by Wallace extended the advantage to 8-0 in the sixth.

The Rams (4-12) tallied on a throwing error in the bottom of the sixth.

Two runs scored on wild pitches in the seventh.

VCU pitchers issued 15 walks and had seven wild pitches.

Parker Byrd’s sacrifice fly completed the scoring in the ninth.

Starter Nick Moran (1-0) went five innings. He allowed one hit and no runs with one walk and three strikeouts.

Bradley Zayac pitched the sixth and seventh. Gabe Beschloss went the last two innings, yielding one hit with four strikeouts.

Burress and Collins each had two hits.

ECU won the first matchup of a 2-game midweek series with VCU, 12-2, in eight innings on Tuesday night.

The Pirates start a 3-game set with William & Mary (5-12) in Greenville on Friday at 6 p.m.