By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — After a torrid 13-game winning streak, the East Carolina Pirates have dropped two of their last three.
Coach Billy Godwin’s club will look to get over the mini-slide tonight against the Campbell Camels. First pitch at Clark-LeClair Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
Sthil Sowers (1-1, 6.38 ERA) will get the start for the Pirates (15-6, 1-2 Conference USA) in tonight’s game, which caps off a 13-game homestand.
Sowers went 4 2/3 innings in his last start, an 18-3 ECU win over Elon. The freshman right-hander allowed just two runs on three hits, but had some command problems as he walked six.
Right-hander Josh Fish (0-4, 4.34 ERA) may get the nod for the Camels (8-13, 5-7 Atlantic Sun).
Tonight’s game will be the third in three days for Campbell.
ECU holds a 48-18 edge in the series. However, the Camels knocked off the Pirates, 2-0, last year.
The Pirates enter the game with 33 home runs and a .319 team batting average. Brandon Henderson, Ryan Wood and Kyle Roller share the team lead with six home runs apiece.
Harrison Eldridge, who has swiped 20 bases, leads the club with a .413 average.
Other top hitters for ECU are Drew Schieber (.372), Henderson (.370, 24 RBI), Stephen Batts (.366, 24 RBI), Corey Kemp (.364, five homers, 16 RBI), Dustin Harrington (.345), Trent Whitehead (.345), Wood (.329, 23 RBI, 13 SB) and Roller (.250, 21 RBI).
The Camels, who have hit just three home runs, are hitting .269 collectively. Brandon Scott (.250) has belted two home runs and leads the Camels with 15 RBI.
Other top hitters for Campbell are Ellis Lowe (.385), Graham Fronk (.310) and Ryan Hamme (.301).
Following tonight’s game, the Pirates will head to Florida for a three-game C-USA series against the No. 19 UCF Knights. ECU holds a 9-3 lead in the series, including a sweep of the Knights last year.
UCF (20-3, 1-2 C-USA), which played North Florida last night and takes on Florida Gulf Coast tonight, is 18-0 at Jay Bergman Field this year.
This weekend’s games will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.