Jake Washer hit a first inning grand slam to lead the Pirates to a 9-5 win over North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium Wednesday night. Washer’s slam was a part of a six-run top of the first inning for ECU. The Pirates scored six runs before the Tar Heels could register an out. East Carolina improves to 37-11 with the win. The Pirates now take on Wichita State with a chance to wrap up the regular season American Athletic Conference championship with a win over the Shockers or a loss by Tulane.<doc-sep>Jake Kuchmaner For the fifth time in sixth tries this season, East Carolina's baseball team has swept a doubleheader. The eighth-ranked Pirates completed a perfect day on the diamond with a 6-3 victory over Cincinnati on Friday night at Marge Schott Stadium, clinching the series with two consecutive victories over the Bearcats. ECU won 9-4 earlier in the afternoon. East Carolina moved another step closer towards clinching the regular season American Athletic Conference championship crown with the victory. The Pirates are now 35-11 overall and a strong 15-2 in league action heading into Sunday's 1 p.m. ET series finale at Cincinnati. ECU has just seven league games left to play. Second-place Tulane is the next closest team within striking distance at 11-5, 3.5 back of ECU, and the Pirates have already taken two-of-three from the Green Wave. Bryant Packard's three-run double in the second inning and Jake Kuchmaner's strong start - combined with a stout bullpen performance - led to the Pirates' 6-3 win on Friday night. Kuchmaner (5-1) got the win with 5.2 quality innings. The left-hander allowed three runs (all earned) on six hits, four walks and two strikeouts. Kuchmaner threw 91 pitches and left with a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth, seeing the bullpen preserve things from there between the trio of Sam Lanier, Gavin Williams and Evan Voliva. Lanier escaped a jam by inducing a groundout with the tying run at the plate in the sixth. The right-hander tossed one scoreless inning. Williams then came on and tossed two scoreless frames, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out three. Williams gave up a pair of singles in the ninth before Voliva got a groundout with the tying run at the plate to end things and pick up his fourth save of the year. ECU did most of its offensive damage in this one early against starting pitcher David Orndorff. Turner Brown was hit by a pitch, Seth Caddell singled and Ryder Giles walked to load the bases with two outs for Packard in the second. The junior outfielder ripped a three-run double to centerfield on the first pitch he saw from Orndorff, making it 3-0. Spencer Brickhouse led off with a double in the third, moved to third on Alec Burleson's deep flyout and scored on Thomas Francisco's sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-0. Cincinnati (22-24, 11-9 AAC) scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the fourth off Kuchmaner, stringing together three hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 4-3. But ECU answered right back in the top of the fifth. Lane Hoover singled and scored on Burleson's RBI double. Burleson then stole third and scored on Francisco's groundout to make it 6-3. Brickhouse, Burleson and Brady Lloyd had multiple hit efforts for the Pirates. Brickhouse scored a pair of runs and Francisco finished with two RBIs.<doc-sep>Jake Washer celebrates his first-inning grand slam on Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium. BOX SCORE CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — It didn’t take long for East Carolina to make a statement in a key midweek game between two Top 15 teams on Wednesday night in Chapel Hill. By the time North Carolina recorded its second and third outs of the inning on Bryant Packard’s double play, the Tar Heels were already down 6-0. And they could never catch up. Jake Washer’s grand slam capped a monster six-run frame in the top of the first, lifting No. 7 ECU to an eventual 9-5 victory over No. 13 UNC on Wednesday night inside Boshamer Stadium. Combined with last season’s series finale in Chapel Hill, where East Carolina won 12-0 to win two-of-three, the Pirates have out-scored North Carolina 21-5 the last two times in Chapel Hill. Overall, ECU has won three of the last four in the series. Wednesday’s game, just like the others, had big postseason implications. East Carolina’s triumph vaulted it into third place in the RPI. “I think that’s one of the better offensive teams (UNC) has had,” ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said. “That first inning just allowed us to get some distance from them and they couldn’t really do anything on offense except sit back and hit. I thought that was huge. Obviously Washer’s big blow, but continuing to add on was huge.” UNC (35-13) entered Wednesday night’s game 29-3 at home this season, but ECU’s faithful made it seem like a road game at times for the Tar Heels. The crowd of 4,023 was largely split 50/50 between Pirates and Tar Heels despite the game being played in Chapel Hill. “We knew how it was going to be,” Washer said. “It was a big crowd for us and we could hear it. That was awesome. We were able to hear the Purple and Gold chant, and that just shows we have the best fans in the country.” North Carolina starting pitcher Andrew Grogan (4-2) recorded just one out in a disastrous top of the first for the Tar Heels. Packard started the inning with a single, Lane Hoover reached on an error and Spencer Brickhouse walked to load the bases with no one out. Alec Burleson’s RBI single down the third base line scored the game’s first run, making it 1-0. Turner Brown worked a bases-loaded, full-count walk against Grogan to force in another run, making it 2-0. Washer then stepped to the plate and had one of his best at-bats of the season. After falling behind in the count, Washer fouled off a few pitches before hammering an offspeed pitch for a no-doubt grand slam over the left field fence, pushing the lead to 6-0 and sending the Pirate dugout and many ECU fans on-hand into a frenzy. “That was a pretty special moment. I got a little excited,” Washer said. “He just hung one. I got to where I could get a good pitch and just put a good swing on it.” The Pirates (37-11) continued to add on to their lead the next two innings. Brown’s RBI single against North Carolina reliever Austin Love scored Hoover to make it 7-0 in the second. After UNC got a run back in the bottom of the second, Burleson helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-1 in the top of the third. Burleson was effective in his four innings of work as a starter, throwing 66 pitches. The left-hander allowed one run on two hits, two walks and four strikeouts. He took the mound in the bottom of the first with six runs at his back. Alec Burleson throws a pitch during Wednesday's game at UNC. “Obviously it was a long inning, so my arm was a little tired,” Burleson said. “But I’d rather have six runs up there than my arm feeling perfect. It was awesome just knowing you have that lead and can fill the zone up a little more. A six-run deficit is very hard to come back from.” North Carolina started to mount a comeback in the middle innings. The Tar Heels scored two in the bottom of the fifth against reliever Cam Colmore to trim the lead to 8-3, but Gavin Williams came on and stranded a pair of runners to limit the damage. Williams left two more men on base in the bottom of the sixth. Packard tripled with two outs in the top of the seventh but tweaked his leg rounding second base. He was removed from the game afterwards. Godwin said following the game there’s no clear update on his status. Lane Hoover brought in pinch-runner Bryson Worrell with a two-out RBI single the other way to make it 9-3. It was far from perfect - North Carolina had at least one baserunner all nine innings, and ECU walked six and hit two more batters - but the Pirate pitching staff pieced together a good enough performance with some well-timed pitching to hold some potent UNC bats at bay. North Carolina got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but Evan Voliva struck out Dylan Harris with the bases loaded on a 93 mph fastball to end it. Williams and Sam Lanier also recorded key outs after emerging from the bullpen. “Gavin made some huge pitches, Sam made some huge pitches and Voliva made some huge pitches, even when we made it interesting in the ninth,” Godwin said. “Look, they’re good. They’re not ranked that high and considered one of the best teams in the country for nothing. They’re not going to come in here and not challenge us. They challenged us until the last out.” Austin Sabato hit a home run and went 3-for-4 to pace the Tar Heels. Packard had three hits, and Hoover and Washer notched two hits to lead the Pirates. ECU returns to American Athletic Conference action this weekend at Wichita State for a three-game series. The Pirates are one win away from clinching the regular season championship.<doc-sep>
Alec Burleson worked four innings on the mound and drove in a pair of runs, while Jake Washer belted his first career grand slam helping No. 8 ECU to a 9-5 win over No. 12 UNC Wednesday night at Boshamer Stadium. With the win the Pirates improve to 37-11 on the season and the Tar Heels drop to 35-13. Washer’s grand slam highlighted ECU’s six-run first inning as the Pirates jumped out early on UNC. Bryant Packard started the game with a single to center and took second when Lane Hoover reached on an error. Spencer Brickhouse followed with the first of his three walks on the night loading the bases. Burleson’s infield RBI single pushed across Packard and Turner Brown’s bases loaded walk scored Hoover. Washer stepped to the plate and took a full count offering from Andrew Grogan to left field for his ninth homer of the season. Burleson (5-1) picked up the win on a staff night allowing one run (earned) on two hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts over four frames. Cam Colmore gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits in one-third of a frame and Gavin Williams tossed 1.2 scoreless frames in relief with a walk and two punch outs. Sam Lanier (2.0 IP) and Evan Voliva (1.0 IP) also came out of the bullpen each allowing a run in their outings. Grogan (4-2) took the loss after being touched for six runs (five earned) on three hits with a pair of walks in one-third of an inning. UNC used four arms in relief getting outings from Austin Love (1.2 IP, 3 Hs, 1 R, 2 BBs), Will Sandy (3.0 IP, 3 Hs, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 Ks), Hansen Butler (3.0 IP, 2 Hs, 1 R, 5 Ks) and Josh Dotson (1.0 IP). The Pirates added a run in the second on Brown’s RBI single making it a 7-0 ball game. Hoover singled through the right side, took second on Brickhouse’s walk and moved to third on Burleson’s sac bunt before strolling home on Brown’s base hit to right. UNC scored its first run of the evening in the second inning making it a 7-1 ball game. Ike Freeman singled up the middle then moved to second on Ashton McGee’s walk and took third on Brandon Martorano’s fly out to right field. Dylan Harris plated Freeman on a ground out to first base. Another run in the third for ECU pushed its lead to 8-1. Ryder Giles started the stanza with an infield single to first and two batters later moved to second when Hoover reached on another Tar Heel error. Brickhouse loaded the bases with another free pass and Burleson’s sac fly to right easily allowed Giles to score from third base. Dylan Enwiller’s RBI fielder’s choice and Aaron Sabato’s RBI single up the middles scored a pair of runs for the Tar Heels in the fifth pulling within five, 8-3. Both teams traded runs in the seventh making it a 9-4 contest. Hoover’s RBI single scored Bryson Worrell, while Sabato hit a solo shot off of Lanier. UNC scored one more in the ninth on Freeman’s base hit back up the middle plating Michael Busch, but Voliva struck out Harris with the bases loaded sealing the win for the Pirates. ECU pounded out 11 hits on the night and improved to 24-1 when reaching double-digit base hits. Seven Pirates registered at least one hit with Packard leading the way going 3-for-5. Hoover and Washer tallied two hits each, while Washer led a trio of Pirates with multiple RBI with his four. Brown and Burleson both plated a pair of runs. Sabato (three) and Freeman (two) recorded multiple hits for the Tar Heels, while Sabato drove in a team-best two runs. ECU will continue its seven-game road trip this weekend when it travels to Wichita State for an American Athletic Conference series. First pitch of the three-game set is slated for Friday, May 10 with a 7 p.m. (ET) first pitch.