GREENVILLE — Tied at 1-1, No. 10 North Carolina had runners on first and second base with two outs in the top of the fourth. Chris Holba came to the mound to relieve starting pitcher Jacob Wolfe, who had surrendered a run on three hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Cody Roberts knocked a hopper that bounced right over Holba and should have been a routine groundout to end the inning. However, shortstop Turner Brown botched the throw to first base, allowing the Tar Heels the tiebreaking run.

Brandon Riley followed with a three-run shot to left field that pushed UNC’s lead to 6-1 after four frames.

“It comes down to one inning,” first baseman Bryce Harman said. “If I catch that ball at first, we get out of it. … It’s a tough one to swallow.”

Eric Tyler and Bryant Packard led off the bottom of the stanza with back-to-back singles to left field. The Pirates were buzzing, but Luke Bolka grounded into a 6-3 double play. Harman’s base knock to right field was enough to plate Tyler, but the momentum was squarely on the side of the Tar Heels.

“As good as our offensive numbers are right now, we need to be good against better pitching,” coach Cliff Godwin said.

Those three hits in the fourth were the last hits that ECU would get in the game.

“We have to have tougher at-bats. Give credit to that guy. He threw his pitches for strikes. We just couldn’t make the adjustment,” Harman said.

After two scoreless innings, UNC broke through in the top of the third. Riley led off with a double down the left-field line and came across on Brian Miller’s groundout. The Pirates responded when Dusty Baker drew a walk and scored on Charlie Yorgen’s RBI double.

Holba struck out the side in the fifth, but the Tar Heels got two hits off him for an insurance run in the sixth. Matt Bridges came in to start the seventh and worked two frames before handing the ball over to Joe Ingle. The two kept UNC at bay, but ECU’s offense couldn’t put a dent in that quick hole it found itself in after the fourth.

The loss marked ECU’s third in its last four outings. After getting swept by Mercer this past weekend, the Pirates bounced back with an 11-7 win at Elon on Tuesday.

“They all sting when you lose. We’re trying to win every time we come out here. I appreciate the fans making a big deal out of it,” Godwin said. Just shy of 5,000 folks came out to Clark-LeClair Stadium to watch the in-state showdown. “We need a lot of fans to come out here Friday night for Towson because they’re a very good team.”