Chapel Hill --- Aaron Sabato hit a home run and drove in a pair of runs, but No. 12 North Carolina couldn't overcome No. 9 ECU's six-run first inning, falling 9-5 at Boshamer Stadium on Wednesday night.

East Carolina was able to put up six runs in the first inning against Tar Heel starter Andrew Grogan. After the Pirates put up a pair of early runs with the help of an error and a couple of walks, ECU's Jake Washer hit a long fly ball over the fence with the bases loaded for a grand slam. Before Carolina could even pick up the bats, ECU had a 6-0 lead.

Carolina put its first run of the game on the board in the bottom of the second with Dylan Harris' RBI groundout. His 21st RBI of the season made it 7-1.

Down 8-1, the Tar Heels scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Aaron Sabato singled for his 44th RBI of the year to cut the ECU lead to 8-3.

Aaron Sabato hit his 11th home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh, an opposite-field shot to hit home runs in back-to-back nights for the Tar Heels. That cut the ECU lead to 9-4.

UNC loaded the bases and cut the score to 9-5, but Dylan Harris struck out with the bases loaded to end the game.

Michael Busch has reached base in 21 straight games, tying his career high.

Wednesday marked UNC's 14th game with 2+ errors.

The team has 11 games without an error.

Hansen Butler's 3.0 innings out of the bullpen tied his career high.

Butler tied his career high in strikeouts with five. Sabato's seventh-inning home run marked his 11th of the season.

Brandon Martorano extended his reached-base streak to 11 games, his career high.

UNC was 2-16 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday.

Wednesday marked back-to-back three-hit games for Sabato.

Win: Alec Burleson (5-1)

Loss: Andrew Grogan (4-2)

The Tar Heels will hit the road to Pittsburgh for a three-game series this weekend. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m.