NEW ORLEANS — East Carolina evened its American Conference series at Tulane with a 9-6 victory on Saturday night.

The Pirates had taken a 6-2 lead on a grand slam by Michael Kalinich in the sixth inning before the Green Wave rallied to tie the score.

ECU scored three runs in the eighth before Sean Jenkins got his sixth save.

The Pirates improved to 22-13-1 overall and 7-4 in league play going into the deciding game of the series with the Wave (18-18, 5-6) on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Junior left-hander Ethan Norby started for ECU and went six and two-thirds innings. He left with the bases loaded and those runs were charged to him. Norby allowed seven hits and five runs (all earned) with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

Joe Webb (4-3) followed Norby to the mound and got the win. Webb pitched one-third of an inning with two hits and one run (earned).

Jenkins pitched the last two innings. He yielded two hits with no runs, no walks and two strikeouts.

The hosts tallied twice in the second as Jack Johnson opened the scoring with an RBI double and Nate Johnson had a run-scoring single.

Matthew Lashley and Austin Irby had RBI singles in the fourth as ECU pulled even at 2.

Lashley singled, pinch hitter Brayden Bachman walked and Irby walked before Kalinich hit the first pitch from reliever LuisPablo Navarro over the right field fence in the sixth.

Matthais Haas had a 3-run double for the Wave in the seventh.

ECU’s 3-run eighth included the go-ahead run from pinch runner Jeff Sabater on a wild pitch.  Colby Wallace had an RBI single and an error allowed another run on the play.

Jack Herring was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs for the Pirates.

Getting two hits each for ECU were Wallace, Lashley and Kalinich.