GREENVILLE, N.C. – Six innings of three-hit ball from East Carolina starter Jacob Wolfe propped up the Pirates to withstand Longwood's five-run, ninth-inning rally and take game two of the series, 9-6, Saturday afternoon at Clark-LeClaire Stadium.

Wolfe (1-0) scattered three hits and a walk over his six scoreless frames, striking out seven Lancers in his season debut. He exited with a 9-0 lead before Longwood (0-2) pounded the East Carolina bullpen for six runs over the final three frames. Sparked by a Connar Bastaich leadoff single in the ninth, the Lancers turned five hits into five runs in their final turn at the plate before closer Joe Ingle took the mound to record the final two outs and leave the tying run at the plate.

"We didn't get the start we needed on the mound today and that put our offense in a difficult position early on," head coach Ryan Mau said. "We issued too many free passes and ECU took advantage of it."

The bottom ofthe East Carolina (2-0) lineup did the bulk of the damage against the Lancers, getting a combined six RBI from the trio of Dwanya Williams-Sutton, Garrett Brooks and Wes Phillips. Brooks drove in three of those as part of a 2-for-4 effort, while Williams-Sutton went 4-for-5 with two runs and two driven in.

Longwood's preseason All-Big South pick Bastaich delivered two hits for the Lancers, as did junior infielder Alex Lewis and sophomore outfielder Sammy Miller. Lewis cracked a two-run single in the ninth and later scored on a two-run double from Miller.

East Carolina was en route to a runaway win after jumping out to a 5-0 lead by the end of the third inning. That lead ballooned to 9-0 after back-to-back two-run outbursts in the fifth and sixth before the Lancers finally got to the Pirates bullpen when sparkplug leadoff man Colton Konvicka legged out an infield single to the pitcher and later scored on a fielding error by Williams-Sutton off the bat of Lewis.

That momentum carried into the ninth when, trailing 9-1, Bastaich led off the frame with a single, his second hit of the game, and got into scoring position after swiping second base. Michael Osinski drove in Bastaich with a double and a rally ensued.

Drew Kitson was hit by a pitch and Konvicka walked to load the bases with no outs. Lewis came up clutch with a two-run single to cut the Longwood deficit to five. Two batters later Jon Peterson singled to reload the bases and brought the tying run to the on deck circle. Miller then doubled and brought the tying run to the plate with one out.

"Offensively we had another slow start, but I was proud of the fight we showed at the end of the game" Mau said.

The offense came to life late, but much like in Friday's contest Longwood couldn't get to the starting pitcher for ECU. Lancers were held scoreless in seven innings by Evan Kruczynski Friday night and Wolfe followed up with another strong performance. Wolfe's outing was the second quality start in as many games for ECU in the series.

Longwood got off to a rocky start behind starting pitcher Tyler Wirsu (0-1), who was lifted in the third inning. Wirsu went 2.1 innings and allowed five runs on three hits with three walks and hit three batters in the loss.

East Carolina got to Wirsu early, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Bryce Harman in the first inning. The Pirates tacked on four more in the third, chasing Wirsu from the game after Williams-Sutton ripped a bases-loaded double to left field. Michael Catlin stepped to the mound for Longwood with a pair of runners on, but he couldn't stop the bleeding. An RBI ground out and RBI single made it a four-run inning and gave ECU a 5-0 lead.

Catlin, the junior southpaw, made his season debut and went 3.2 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on eight hits with one strikeout and one hit batter.

In the loss freshman right-hander Cody Boydstun pitched well in his Longwood debut. Boydstun pitched the seventh and eigth innings for Longwood and held ECU scoreless on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

"Cody did an excellent job putting up zeros in his debut, which allowed us to get within one swing of the bat to tie it up," Mau said. "We need to carry over the offensive momentum to Sunday and will look for Zach Potojecki to give us a solid start on the mound."

Longwood wraps up the series at East Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m. Potojecki, a sophomore righty, gets the ball opposite of ECU right-hander Jimmy Boyd. Longwood will then return home to open up Buddy Bolding Stadium Tuesday against Richmond, a 3 p.m. first pitch.

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