CLEARWATER, Fla. (Interstat) — East Carolina pounded Wichita State 13-3 on Saturday at Spectrum Field in the American Athletic Conference tournament, erasing an early deficit and scoring in six consecutive innings.

The Pirates (35-22) battered the Shockers (28-29) for 13 hits, while a four-pitcher staff held Wichita State to three hits. East Carolina sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run fourth inning that turned a 5-1 game into an 8-1 lead, effectively putting the contest out of reach.

Wichita State took a brief 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Pirates answered in the bottom half. Grady Lenahan singled, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error, then scored on Braden Burress’s bunt single to cut the lead to 3-1. East Carolina crept closer in the second when a wild pitch allowed Irby to score unearned, making it 3-2.

The game flipped in the bottom of the third. Burress tripled to right-center and scored on a pinch-hit single by Michael Kalinich to tie the game at 3-3. After a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice bunt, Irby doubled down the right-field line, scoring two runs to give East Carolina a 5-3 lead.

Wichita State scratched across a run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Gutierrez, but the Pirates answered emphatically in the bottom half. A walk, a single and a throwing error loaded the bases with one out. Colby Wallace then cleared the bases with a double to right-center, driving in three runs and extending the lead to 8-3.

The Pirates added two more in the sixth on a two-run single by Barron, another run in the seventh on Kalinich’s RBI single, and capped the scoring in the eighth when Lenahan launched a two-run homer to left field. Lenahan finished with two hits, including the home run, and two RBIs. Burress went 4 for 5 with an RBI and three runs scored.

East Carolina’s pitching staff quieted the Shockers after the first. Starter Joseph Webb worked 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run on no hits while striking out four. Thomas Paxton followed with 2 2/3 hitless innings, striking out five and allowing no earned runs. The pair combined to retire 14 of the 16 batters they faced.

For Wichita State, starter Ethan Rogers took the loss, giving up five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Nolan Ganter provided the only offensive spark, going 2 for 3 with a walk and two RBIs, including a two-run single in the fifth that accounted for the Shockers’ final runs.

The game was a reversal of fortune for the Pirates, who had lost their most recent meeting with Wichita State 13-1 on April 19. In that game, the Shockers scored 11 runs in the first two innings. This time, East Carolina’s pitchers allowed just three hits and struck out 11.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of 5-4 in favor of East Carolina, and the Interstat ELO system gave the Pirates a 70.60 percent probability to win.