GREENVILLE, N.C. — With the chance to move two runners over in the fourth inning on Sunday, Maryland baseball shortstop AJ Lee whiffed his sacrifice bunt attempt and second baseman Nick Dunn was picked off at second.

Dunn had reached on a leadoff single and first baseman Kevin Biondic followed with a base knock. Trailing by one run with starter Hunter Parsons dealing, a successful bunt could have set up a go-ahead score.

Instead, Lee’s miss marked another self-destructive play in a series full of miscues at No. 18 East Carolina.

For the third consecutive game, it seemingly wasn’t what the Pirates did, but rather what Maryland couldn’t accomplish in the field, on the bases and at the plate that led to a Terps defeat. East Carolina edged Maryland, 4-0, to sweep the series.

“We’re just not playing offense, really,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “When you face a pitching staff like that, you ain’t getting three hits in a row. … Really, what we need to do is what they did all weekend.”

Maryland had one fewer hit than East Carolina, but 11 strikeouts and the lack of clutch hitting nullified Parsons’ quality start. Since the Terps’ loss on Tuesday in Delaware, they are hitting 7-for-62 with runners on base.

East Carolina designated hitter Bryant Packard attempted to steal second after leading off the first inning with a single. Catcher Justin Morris’ throw beat Packard to the base, but Lee dropped the ball for his second error of the series. Then, Parsons wheeled around and sent his pickoff attempt into center field, setting up East Carolina shortstop Turner Brown’s RBI groundout.

“Just not playing good baseball right now,” Vaughn said. “If you don’t do little things right, they make you pay and that’s what they really did to us all weekend.”

Parsons (2-2, 4.20 ERA) worked quickly to continue the form he began following a disastrous first start in a loss to Tennessee. But he didn’t receive any favors behind him, and the Terps continued to scuffle with runners on base. He allowed one earned run in seven innings.

East Carolina grabbed a second unearned run in the sixth after Biondic allowed Packard to advance to third with a throwing error. It took one pitch for first baseman Spencer Brickhouse to hit a sacrifice fly.

“They don’t strike out,” Parsons said. “They just put the ball in play, and when they get runners in scoring position, they execute. And, you know, that’s what they did better than us this weekend.”

Through 17 2/3 innings entering the contest, East Carolina starter Tyler Smith had struck out six batters. Through his 5 2/3 innings Sunday, Smith (3-0, 0.39 ERA) sent down a career-high seven hitters. With two runners in scoring position in the fifth, Smith bent down and yelled as he walked off the mound in excitement after punching out designated hitter Tommy Gardiner.

With two on in the sixth, Pirates reliever Ryan Ross struck out third baseman Taylor Wright to strand both runners.

“His stuff’s just good, man. It’s a good breaking ball from a weird slot. You don’t see it well,” Vaughn said. “We were trying to get some righties in there late just because it’s hard for lefties to see something coming from behind them like that.”

While it seemed futile for Maryland with runners on base, East Carolina manufactured runs throughout the series, and added two more late to secure the sweep.

Ross picked up his second save of the season in his 3 1/3 inning appearance.

“Every guy [East Carolina] ran out there, looking up at the scoreboard, they’re all having under-two ERAs,” Parsons said. “I credit their pitching staff being able to pitch to our guys because we’ve got a really good lineup. Like I said, I full-heartedly believe that we’ll come back and play better baseball this next week.”

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story referred to East Carolina as Eastern Carolina. This story has been updated.