GREENVILLE, N.C. --- East Carolina's first NCAA regional tournament at its home ballpark will last a little longer.

The Pirates held off South Carolina's late rally to win 8-6 on Sunday night and force a winner-take-all championship game.

Brandon Henderson hit a grand slam, Kyle Roller added a three-run shot and Dustin Harrington also connected for the top-seeded Pirates (45-18). They scored the first eight runs, winning their second elimination game of the day and setting up tonight's rematch.

"I told our guys just to believe. I told them today that we didn't have to win, in Game 1, three games. We just had to win one," East Carolina coach Billy Godwin said. "And then when we got one game won, I said, 'We've just got to win one.' Now we're sitting here with one game to go, and we've got to win one."

South Carolina (40-22) trailed 8-2 entering the ninth before Justin Dalles got things started with a two-run homer and pinch-hitter Brady Thomas' bases-loaded double brought home two more.

Reliever Seth Simmons then got two flyouts to wrap up the victory.

"We put some pressure on them and came back but just weren't able to get one more hit to tie it," South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said.

Henderson seemingly broke this one open with his seventh-inning blast. The towering drive chased starter Nolan Belcher, a former Greenbrier star, and made it 8-0. Belcher (4-5) allowed eight runs on nine hits in 6q innings.