Tuesday night was the best midweek performance of the season for East Carolina. The Pirates came into the game 3-5 in midweek contests and 0-4 in midweeks in which they played just one midweek game in that given week. Thanks to six home runs the most hit by a Pirate team in a single game since March 18th 2009 against Norfolk State, the Pirates knocked of N.C. State 13-9.
After three innings of play the score was tied at one. The only Pirate run came off the bat of Jacob Jenkins-Cowart who hit his first of three home runs on the day in the first inning. JJC became the first Pirate player since Corey Kemp on March 22nd 2008 to hit three home runs in a game. The first three innings had great pace but it all slowed down in the 4th when the Pirates outscored to Pack 5-1 to take a 6-2 lead into the 5th. The Pack responded in the 5th outscoring the Pirates 5-1 tying the game at 7 going to the 6th. With 2 outs in the 6th the true hero of the game Jake Hunter came out of the pen got the Pirates out of the jam, before going out to throw the last 4.1 innings and close out the 13-9 victory.
The Pirates were coming off a tough week hitting the ball after the game Coach Godwin said “We had a come to Jesus as a team.” The meeting seems to have worked at least in the short term after the Pirates scored the most runs since March 11th against Liberty. The Pirates host UCF this weekend and hope they can bring the long ball with them in what is sure to be a tough series against the Knights.