GREENVILLE — Good Friday was indeed good for East Carolina as the Pirates rallied from a 7-2 deficit to defeat Charlotte, 12-9, and take the American Conference series before a crowd of 4,489 at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

ECU took advantage of the wind blowing out to right field as Walker Barron, Matthew Lashley and Alex Bouche hit homers in the Pirates’ comeback.

ECU (19-12-1, 5-3 American) goes for a sweep in the 3-game series with the 49ers (18-12, 3-5 American) on Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

Pirates starting pitcher Ethan Norby struggled uncharacteristically, allowing seven runs in three and two-thirds innings. Six of the runs were earned.

Cale Stricklin hit a 2-run homer for Charlotte in the second and Johnny Sutryk had a 3-run homer for the visitors in the third to put the hosts in a 7-2 hole.

The Pirates pulled within 7-5 with three runs in the fifth. A run came in on a grounder by Jack Herring. Colby Wallace and Bouche had RBI singles.

A 2-run homer by Dylan Koontz extended Charlotte’s lead to 9-5 in the sixth.

An RBI triple by Grady Lanahan with two out and a run-scoring infield single by Herring closed the gap to 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth.

ECU scored three times with two out in the seventh to take a 10-9 lead. Barron and Lashley had back-to-back solo homers to tie the score at 9.

Hits by Braden Burress and Davin Whitaker set up a go-ahead RBI single up the middle by Lanahan.

“Just a lot of tough at-bats up and down the lineup,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network.

Bouche provided a 12-9 lead with a 2-run blast in the eighth.

Ethan Rose (2-1) pitched the sixth and seventh for the win. He allowed one hit and no runs with one walk and three strikeouts.

Sean Jenkins held Charlotte scoreless over the last two innings for his fourth save. He yielded one hit with one walk and two strikeouts.

Adam Stanton (1-1) was dealt the loss.

ECU had a 17-13 lead in hits. Lanahan was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBIs. Whitaker had three hits.

Getting two hits each for the Pirates were Herring, Jeff Sabater, Bouche and Barron.

Bouche played first base after Austin Irby left the game. Irby was on crutches after the game.