RALEIGH — Host N.C. State wore jerseys with the No. 26 in memory of former first baseman Chris Combs and East Carolina players had on their No. 23 uniforms in honor of the late Pirates coach Keith LeClair on Tuesday night.

The occasion was Strikeout ALS, the disease which claimed both.

The numbers that were recorded at the end of the night were a 12-2 win in eight innings for the Wolfpack.

Coincidentally, the margin was the same by which the Pirates had subdued South Florida at home on Sunday to extend a winning streak to four games.

“You have to play better than your opponent on the road and we didn’t do that,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network. “Things got messy at the end.”

State (28-16) scored four runs in the seventh inning with the help of two walks, an error and a wild pitch.

The Pack closed it out on the run rule with a sacrifice fly by Brayden Fraasman in the eighth.

The hosts took a 2-0 lead in the second as Sherman Johnson had an RBI triple off ECU starter Nick Moran (1-1) and Vincent DeCarlo had a run-scoring single.

The Pirates (28-17-1) pulled even at 2 in the third on bases-loaded walks to Colby Wallace and Austin Irby.

State freshman reliever Truett Manuel (1-0) came in to leave three on base with a lineout and two whiffs. The right-hander struck out five in two and one-third innings.

Chris McHugh’s 2-run homer in a 3-run third put the Pack ahead to stay.

State led 15-4 in hits as Luke Nixon went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Godwin said right-hander Sean Jenkins would have to be evaluated after leaving the game in the fifth after retiring three batters with no runs.

ECU heads to Memphis (16-27, 8-10 American Conference) for a league series that starts Friday at 7:05 p.m.

The Pirates are 12-6 in the American and are tied for first with Texas-San Antonio and Alabama-Birmingham.