GREENVILLE, N.C. ? East Carolina's five-run sixth inning, broke open a 2-2 contest, as Monmouth dropped a 9-2 decision to the 27th-ranked Pirates at Clark-LeClair Stadium, on Sunday afternoon.

After Monmouth knotted the score at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning, on Mike Casale's RBI single, the Pirates answered with five runs in the home half of the sixth off of reliever Tim Ballard, who surrendered five runs on four hits.

Monmouth opened the scoring in the first, when Brett Holland registered a lead-off single, and advanced to third on Chris Collazo's single. Nick Pulsonetti's sacrifice fly to leftfield made the score 1-0 for the Hawks.

ECU knotted the score in the fourth frame when Stephen Batts delivered a one-out triple down the right field line off Monmouth starter John McDonald, and Brandon Henderson followed with a run-scoring single.

The Pirates went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth when they pushed across an unearned run off Ballard, before Monmouth tied the contest in the sixth, when Casale's single up the middle plated Tim McEndy.

ECU added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings off reliever Nick Vallillo to account for the final score.

Monmouth, which collected nine hits in the contest, received a 3-for-4 day from Collazo, and two hits from Pulsonetti.

Stephen Batts went 4-for-5 for East Carolina, which collected double-digit hits in each of the three games of the series.

McDonald, in just his second career start, surrendered one run on two hits, with three strikeouts, in four innings of work for Monmouth. Ballard (0-1) was saddled with the loss, allowing six runs on five hits in 1.2 frames. Vallillo tossed two innings, allowing two runs on five hits, while freshman Matt Goitz recorded the final out of the game in his collegiate debut.

Monmouth returns to action on Friday March 6, when the Hawks open a three-game series at UCF, in Orlando, Florida.