GREENVILLE — East Carolina’s offense picked a good time to heat up. Houston visits Greenville on Friday, marking not just the beginning of American Athletic Conference competition, but also a rematch of last season’s AAC Championship showdown.

The Pirates scored nine runs in that May 24 title match. They’ve also done so in their final two games before opening conference play. They exploded for 13 runs in a shutout win Saturday to beat Jacksonville and win the series. Then they followed it up by scoring nine against UNC-Wilmington in Tuesday’s midweek win.

Head coach Cliff Godwin always preaches to the team — and oftentimes the media — how much mental toughness is required in baseball. A good batter is only successful three times out of 10. As a team, ECU has been through both hot and cold stretches this season, knowing full well what it will take mentally to be successful in league play.

Eric Tyler has been an offensive catalyst for the Pirates in their explosive two-game stretch. In the 13-0 win over Jacksonville, he had a three-run homer in the first and a grand slam in the eighth en route to a school-record eight RBI.

The success carried over to Tuesday against the Seahawks as he quietly went 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs and an RBI. It’s not an easy maintaining that kind of performance over a long period of time, but Tyler knows the key is managing the highs and lows.

“I think that’s part of the hot streak,” he said. “Not getting too high and not getting too low. That may have been a problem earlier in the year, but (Tuesday) it was good to see a string — almost every, I think seven innings getting runs. We’re really stringing out those hits.”

It was the entire team hitting the ball. Tyler had a game-best four hits, but three others had multiple in the game, too. The Pirates are getting contributions throughout the lineup. Godwin believes the confidence his players have at the plate comes from avenues besides in-game success.

“When you’re a hitter, your confidence has to come from your preparation. I think that our guys work as hard as any team in the country,” Godwin said.

Offensive spurts like ECU has experienced in the last two games lead to success as long as they last. The key to carrying that success over a prolonged period of time is more mental than anything. It’s something Godwin reminds his team of everyday.

“We talk about the mental side of the game every single day,” he said. “This game is more mental, in my opinion, than any other sport in the country because it’s a game of failure. So, you definitely have to manage your highs and lows.

“You look at how Bryce (Harman) started off good and then had a little lull. Now he’s picking it back up. You just have to keep your confidence.”

That mentality — the confidence — will be important against Houston’s elite pitching staff. Mitch Ullom, Andrew Lantrip and Seth Romero are the three the Cougars sent out to start last weekend against George Washington. They combine for an 11-3 record and just 17 runs. The series starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Clark-LeClair Stadium.