By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — It took them a while to get going, but once the bats started heating up, there was no cooling off the No. 20 East Carolina Pirates.
The Pirates smacked 13 hits, the seventh straight game they’ve reached double digits, in Wednesday’s 8-3 win over the Old Dominion Monarchs. The mid-week victory came in front of 2,527 fans at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Trent Whitehead continued his torrid streak, collecting three hits for his fourth straight multi-hit game. Whitehead is 7 for 15 (.467) with two RBIs and three runs scored in three games since being inserted as ECU’s leadoff hitter. The former Washington Pam Pack star is 11 for 20 (.555) with five RBIs and five runs scored over his last four games.
Head coach Billy Godwin, who was one of the many Pirates feeling under the weather, has been pleased with Whitehead’s effort.
As has become customary for this ECU (6-1) squad, it rallied after falling into a hole. The Pirates spotted the Monarchs (3-5) a 3-0 advantage before storming back.
ECU got single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to make it a one-run game, then tallied three runs in the sixth to grab a 5-3 lead. The Pirates sent eight batters to the plate, collected four hits and chased ODU starter Kyle Hald (0-2) in the process.