GREENVILLE — On Sunday afternoon, an uneven performance by starting pitcher Jacob Wolfe cost East Carolina (19-9) a chance to sweep its conference opener against the Houston Cougars (17-10).

Wolfe failed to get out of the fifth inning in the 6-1 defeat. His inability to close out hitters was compounded by several fielding errors.

“We didn’t play good today,” said head coach Cliff Godwin. “If you watched the game, we made four errors. We walked guys, gave up errors and then gave up multiple runs.”

In the second inning, with the game scoreless, Wolfe walked Corey Julks before surrendering an RBI double to Connor Hollis. In the next at-bat, Zac Taylor hit a sharp grounder to shortstop Turner Brown, who failed to make the play and was charged with an error. Josh Vidales followed with a sacrifice bunt that scored two.

“I told Wolfe after the second inning, if you walk the guy, then Turner (Brown)’s got to make the play,” Godwin said. “If Turner’s not going to make the play, then [Wolfe] can’t walk the guy. If you do that in the same inning, you’re going to give up runs.”

Trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Brown again booted a soft ground ball, allowing Hollis to reach first. He then stole second, and catcher Travis Watkins’ attempt to catch him sailed into centerfield. Hollis advanced to third and moments later scored on an RBI single from Vidales.

Wolfe fell to 3-3 on the season, after allowing six runs — three of them earned — on seven hits and two walks while striking out just one batter.

Despite trailing 6-1, the Pirates bullpen did its best to keep the game competitive. A combination of six different relievers kept Houston off the board for the rest of the afternoon, giving their offense a fighting chance.

“The only positive that I can take out of today is those freshman pitchers,” said Godwin. “Those freshman didn’t look like freshman today. They looked like sophomores and juniors. They have to build on that momentum because we’re going to need them for the long season. I’m very proud of those guys.”

With a healthy lead, Houston starter Mitch Ullom kept the Pirates offense in check. ECU never posed a legitimate threat to Houston’s lead, only managing to knock three runners into scoring position after the fourth inning. He exited the game in the eighth, allowing just one run while scattering seven hits.

“It was obviously a tough day to hit with the wind blowing in,” Godwin said. “We had an opportunity in the first inning and then Watkins hit into a double play and Mozingo struck out looking, which is one of the rules we don’t want to do.”

Senior outfielder Parker Lamm provided the only offense of the day for the Pirates, driving home first baseman Kirk Morgan with a single to left. Freshman Dwanya Williams-Sutton also put together a nice day at the plate, reaching base safely three times including a one-out triple in the seventh.

“I don’t think we stuck to our approach early in the game,” Lamm said. “He kind of got to us. Later on in the game we started squaring some balls up, but (Ullom) did a pretty good job today.”

Next for East Carolina is a revenge game against in-state opponent Elon. The Phoenix defeated the Pirates 8-7 in Greenville earlier this season, but have lost six of their last seven contests.

“Road trips are fun,” Lamm said. “You have to fight even harder on the road, when you go into somebody else’s house. You know they’re going to be read to play. We just have to strap it on and be ready to go.”