GREENVILLE — Tanner Chun and Connor Rasmussen each hit 2-run homers to cap Tulane’s scoring in a 7-2 series-clinching win at East Carolina on Sunday.
The Pirates slipped to 25-19 overall and 10-8 in the American Athletic Conference going into a game at Elon (19-24) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Tulane (26-18, 10-8 AAC) took an early lead and maintained it to take the series, 2-1. Jason Wachs doubled on the first pitch of the game, moved to third on a ground out and gave the Green Wave a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Rasmussen.
Hugh Pinkney doubled in the top of the second, went to third on a fly and scored on a passed ball for a 2-0 Tulane advantage.
ECU pulled within 2-1 in the fourth on Jack Herring’s solo homer to right.
James Agabedis III led off the fifth with a single for the Wave and later scored on a wild pitch.
Roger Vergara led off the ninth for ECU with a base hit and Austin Irby followed with a double. The threat produced one run.
Wave reliever Carter Benbrook (2-0) got the win. Starter Sean Jenkins (3-4) was charged with the loss.
Dixon Williams went 3-for-3 with a double, triple and a walk for the Pirates. Irby had two hits.
The only consistent part of the ECU offense is its’ inconsistency. Mismanagement of a couple of scoring opportunities didn’t help. Why you don’t try to small-ball your way to get a run in, when the team as a whole is struggling, is hard to understand. I don’t know if the Pirates will ever be consistent enough with both their hitting and pitching to make much of a run to season’s end.