UNCW baseball knocks off #10 ECU

Seahawks improve to 10-7

WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNCW’s Luke Craig allowed one run over 3.1 innings of relief and Trevor Marsh had two hits and drove in two runs as UNCW topped 11th-ranked East Carolina, 8-5, on Tuesday at Brooks Field.

The Seahawks pushed their record to 10-7 overall while the Pirates saw their six-game winning streak halted and dropped to 12-4.

Craig (1-0) struck out four and scattered five hits over his career-long outing. Ethan Chenault retired all four batters he faced, including two strikeouts, to notch his second save of the season.

Joining Marsh with two-hit games were Jac Croom and Kevin Pitarra. Croom, who extended his hitting streak to a career-long 10 games, scored twice and drew two walks. Pitarra, meanwhile, scored a run and knocked one in.

ECU starter Jake Hunter (0-1) took the loss as UNCW jumped on him for three runs in the second inning.

Jacob Starling and Joey Berini had two hits apiece for the Pirates, who stranded 15 base runners on the evening.

The Seahawks visit Towson for a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series beginning on Mar. 17 at 3 p.m.

How it happened: UNCW grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second inning off Hunter and never lost the lead. Croom opened the rally with a one-out single and John Newton followed with a single to right. Marsh followed one batter later with an RBI single to left. Pitarra made it 2-0 with a squeeze bunt and the final run came across on another squeeze bunt by Taber Mongero.

Home Runs: none

Notes: UNCW finished with three, two-out RBIs … The Seahawks had five hits with two-out and were 5-14 with RISP … Seahawk pitchers allowed five leadoff hitters to reach base, but limited ECU to 2-for-11 hitting with two out … ECU left the bases loaded three times and was hitless in four at bats with the bases loaded … Croom posted his 11th multi-hit game of the season and is now hitting .448 on the season … UNCW is 1-2 against nationally-ranked teams this season.