WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State completed a series sweep of No. 7 East Carolina by an 8-0 score Sunday afternoon at Eck Stadium.

The Shockers (24-15, 8-4 AAC) pulled into a first-place tie with Houston in the American Athletic Conference standings while the Pirates (29-11, 7-5 AAC) sit just one game behind that pair despite the setback.

Josh Grosz (4-1) took just his first loss of the season, yielding five runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work. Grant Adler (4-2) turned in a strong seven-inning performance, allowing no runs and scattering two hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Payton Tolle paced the Wichita State offense with two hits and three RBI. Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, Carter Cunningham and Ryley Johnson all tallied base knocks for the Purple and Gold.

Both pitchers settled in nicely to begin the contest, holding the two offenses to a combined four hits through the first four frames. ECU tried to spark an offensive threat in the top of the fifth when Starling drew a one-out walk, but Wilcoxen’s rope to left field was snagged by a diving Thornhill in left field to keep things scoreless.

Wichita State jumped on top in the home half of the fifth, loading the bases with no outs before drawing back-to-back walks to plate the game’s first two runs. Tolle followed with a two-run double before Herring roped an RBI single to left field to leave the Shockers with a five-run lead after five complete. Wichita State closed out the scoring with three in the sixth.

Up Next: East Carolina heads to Raleigh Tuesday evening to complete its home-and-home season series with NC State First pitch from Doak Field at Dail Park is slated for 6 p.m. and the contest will air live on ESPNU.