DURHAM — Duke withstood an East Carolina comeback to take an emotionally-charged 6-4 nonconference win Tuesday night.

Coaches Cliff Godwin of ECU and Chris Pollard of Duke were ejected during a verbal altercation in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Blue Devils (17-9) broke a tie at 2 with a sacrifice fly by Macon Winslow in the third that put the hosts ahead to stay.

Duke added two runs in the fourth for a 5-2 advantage after a leadoff walk to A.J. Gracia. Jake Berger had a single to left with one away. Gracia scored on a single by Ben Miller and Berger came home on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Hyde.

Pinch hitter Kenan Bowman singled for ECU (15-10) in the seventh before Braden Burress homered down the left field line to pull the Pirates within 5-4.

A bases-loaded walk to Tyler Albright produced an insurance run for Duke in the eighth.

The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on RBI singles by Braxton Tramel and Walker Barron. The Blue Devils evened the score in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Miller and a sacrifice fly by Winslow.

Jake Hunter (1-2) was charged with the loss. Gabe Nard (3-1) got the win and Reid Easterly picked up his fourth save.

Burress was 3-for-5 for the Pirates and Tramel went 2-for-4.

ECU continues American Athletic Conference play this weekend with a 3-game series at Rice. The Owls are 5-20 overall and 1-2 in the AAC.

The first game of the upcoming series between the league-leading Pirates (3-0) and Rice will be Friday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+).