RALEIGH - Once again, East Carolina's Pirates were threatening to pilfer a baseball game from N.C. State.

But once again, the Wolfpack's Jimmy Gillheeney was there to save the night.

This time, the lefty struck out ECU's Trent Whitehead on three pitches with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, preserving a 7-6 N.C. State win before an overflow, coat-wearing crowd of 2,715 Pack and Pirates fans at refrigerated Doak Field.

"What a game; my adrenaline was through the roof,'' said Gillheeney, who pitched the last inning and secured his eighth save of the season. "I was trying to throw strikes, throw quality pitches."

On the last strike, Gillheeney looped a curve across that Whitehead took, snapping the suspense and sending Wolfpack players rushing toward the mound.

Just two weeks ago, Gillheeney shut the door on a 4-3 Wolfpack win by picking off ECU leadoff batter Harrison Eldridge to end that game in Greenville.

"I feel pretty comfortable with him out there,'' said Pack coach Elliott Avent, whose No. 25 Pack (24-11) won for the 10th time in its past 12 games. "It's like a regional atmosphere every time we play them."

The No. 23-ranked Pirates (26-10) trailed 7-2 after five innings, but they pulled to 7-6 when Kyle Roller hit a grand slam with nobody out in the eighth inning.

Until Roller's ninth homer cleared the left-field fence, the Pack seemingly had found a comfort zone on an uncomfortable night, a night in which it continued robust swinging with 10 hits.

But resiliency is a Pirate trait.

"Our club has come back all year," said ECU coach Billy Godwin. "Nobody thought we were out of it. I felt like we were going to get a hit and win the game [in the ninth]."

The Pirates sallied forth Tuesday with a .322 team batting average but produced just six hits off State starter Alex Sogard (who gave up three) and relievers Kyle Rutter, Drew Taylor and Gillheeney.

Meanwhile, State's Marcus Jones delivered the prodigious blow in the Pack attack, a 400-foot homer over the center-field fence that gave State a 5-2 lead in the third inning.

Typically wearing jersey No. 20, Jones donned No. 42 for this game on Jackie Robinson Day in honor of the former Brooklyn Dodgers star who broke baseball's color line on April 15, 1947.

"He's somebody I always looked up to,'' said Jones, who also had a single and a walk and scored two runs. "My dad always made sure I knew who he was and what he did for the game. I look forward to Jackie Robinson Day. It's always a special day for me."

Jones also wore No. 42 on April 15 last year and went 4-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs against Miami.

After a slow start at the plate this season, Jones and the Pack have put punch in the offense, belting double-digit hits in 10 of the past 13 games. And even on a night that was suited for coffee and hot chocolate, State still hit.

But in the ninth inning, State's players were leaning on the dugout rail, no longer in a comfort zone. They looked as tense as folks who still hadn't filed their income-tax forms.

The Pirates, who face a key Conference USA series this weekend at league-leading Rice, were all over the bases. Their fans were pumped in purple. They were poised to snatch this one from the Pack, which has beaten the ECU five times in a row.

Gillheeney had experienced some shaky moments in the ninth. But in the moment that mattered most, he delivered and State got the tenuous win.

"In a tough spot, we always put it in his hand,'' Jones said. "He goes after people."

Godwin also expects his Pirates to keep going after people.

"This won't make or break our season,'' he said.