CLEARWATER, FL — East Carolina continued its mission in the American Athletic Conference Tournament with a 9-7 win over South Florida on Saturday.

The Pirates (32-25), seeded sixth for the event, will meet fifth-seeded Tulane (33-24) at BayCare Ballpark on Sunday at noon (ESPNNews) for the league tournament title.

At stake will be the third straight AAC tournament crown for the Green Wave or ECU’s seventh straight NCAA tournament berth. The Pirates’ streak started in 2018 and skipped the COVID season in 2020.

ECU scored three runs in the top of the ninth Saturday with a go-ahead solo homer by Braden Burress, an RBI triple by Ryley Johnson and a run-scoring single by Colby Wallace for a 9-6 lead.

“One of the biggest home runs of this season, if not the biggest,” said Pirates coach Cliff Godwin on the ECU radio network of Burress’ blast to left in the ninth. “He’s not a guy that has a lot of power, but he got a big swing off when it mattered.”

Godwin brought in sophomore lefty Ethan Norby, primarily a Friday night starter, to close on Saturday afternoon. Norby (7-5) pitched one and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts for the win.

The Bulls scored once in the ninth on an RBI double by Carter Murphy before Dixon Williams snared a liner at short for the final out.

Williams had a 3-run homer in the seventh for a 6-4 ECU lead.

The Bulls tied the score in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back homers by Bradke Lohry and Murphy.

USF had a 4-0 lead through two innings. Austin Irby hit a 3-run homer for the Pirates in the fourth after walks to Johnson and Wallace with two out.

Bradley Zayac started and went one and two-thirds innings for ECU. Ethan Young delivered five innings in relief before Jake Hunter came in for a pair of outs.

The Pirates led, 10-8, in hits as Burress went 3-for-5 at the top of the order. Irby went 3-for-4. Wallace was 2-for-4.