East Carolina’s run to the American Athletic Conference championship as the No. 6 seed was accomplished with a roster that was two players shy of the 30-man limit.

The Pirates (33-25) certainly didn’t dwell on adversity — although there was plenty — with an efficient 4-0 run to their seventh straight NCAA tournament berth.

“You didn’t see a group that played under any kind of pressure this week and they’ve been criticized,” said 11th-year ECU mentor Cliff Godwin, who became the program’s winningest coach during the week at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater. “They’ve had a ton of adversity. The injuries that we’ve had this year are pretty comparable to how it was in 2017, but in ’17 we got healthy at the conference tournament.

“This group never got healthy. Braxton Tramel’s still out. Two weekend rotation guys haven’t thrown a pitch. I could keep going down the list of the guys banged up. Ryley Johnson, the most he’s played was this past week for the entire year and the guy’s a Gold Glove award winner. So, anything that could go wrong (did) and plus all the drama and mess that I’ve had to deal with internally with this group, it’s been a lot. And I don’t need any sympathy for it by any means, but it’s just super rewarding.

” … I feel like I’ve aged 10 years this year just coaching this season. And it’s a young group. It’s an inexperienced group, but they’re not young and inexperienced anymore because they’ve played the entire season and they are playing free. It’s just great to see.”

The Pirates are the No. 3 seed for the Conway regional at Coastal Carolina and will take on second-seeded Florida (38-20) on Friday at noon (ESPN2) to get the double-elimination event underway. The Gators went 15-15 in the Southeastern Conference, which had 13 teams placed in the NCAA field, including the top four national seeds.

No pressure

Because ECU wasn’t expected to be playing at this point, Godwin said there is no pressure on the Pirates.

“I’m super pumped for our guys,” he said. “A week ago, we were dead in the water and the way our guys came together, I just told them of all the teams that have ever made regionals at East Carolina, in my opinion, at least the ones I’ve been a part of as a player and now a head coach, this team’s got no pressure.

“We’ve been under pressure the entire season and this is icing on the cake. We’ll be able to go out there and play our best baseball. I get chill bumps thinking about it because our guys played awesome this week.”

Ryley Johnson’s contributions

Senior Ryley Johnson missed most of the season with abdominal issues following shoulder surgeries

He was able to play throughout the AAC tournament. His ability and leadership were invaluable.

“It is just tough to lead when you’re hurt,” Godwin said. “You’ve got to be an exceptional leader if you can do that.

“He leads a lot by just the toughness and the energy he brings on the field. He was able to do that this week.”

Playing Pirate baseball

Florida is a storied program with 14 trips to the College World Series and a national championship in 2017.

Johnson said ECU won’t be in awe of a field that also includes top-seeded Coastal (48-11) and Fairfield (39-17) on the other side of the bracket.

“We ain’t worried about nobody,” said the fleet center fielder. “They’re obviously great teams. It’s a great regional that we’re going to be in, but if we play our brand of baseball like we have seen, we can beat anybody in the country. We’ve just got to keep believing, keep having that passion and we’ve got to fly around. We’ve got to be who we are and play Pirate baseball.”

The Chanticleers took a series win at ECU on March 7-9 with a 4-3 victory in 10 innings in the deciding third game as Blagen Pado had a homer in the final frame.

Ethan Norby was dominant in ECU’s 7-0 Friday night triumph with 19 strikeouts in seven and one-third innings.

Jake Hunter’s leadership

Senior right-hander Jake Hunter has a leadership style that differs from Johnson’s.

“Jake Hunter probably is a guy that doesn’t necessarily like a conflicting conversation, but I think when it got down to the end before the conference tournament, it’s like, ‘Hey, I really don’t care about anybody else’s feelings. Like hey, this is what we’re going to do,'” Godwin said.

Hunter said the Pirates were influenced by a film that chronicled N.C. State’s improbable 1983 national championship in basketball.

“We watched the movie on Monday,” Hunter said. “‘It’s ‘Survive and Advance,’ whatever it takes. Winning every pitch every inning. Every at bat matters.”

No beach time

Chances are unlikely that the Pirates will spend any time at nearby Myrtle Beach this weekend.

The team avoided aqua recreation at the AAC event. Clearwater meant no water for ECU.

“It was just like, ‘Hey, we’re super focused on winning the championship,'” Godwin said. “We still got breath to breathe to play in the postseason and let’s do it. So, they literally had zero seconds of pool time or beach time this past week for seven days.”

Tough ticket

The Coastal regional will be a tough ticket as Springs Brooks Stadium has only 2.500 seats. Standing room admission was available on the Coastal website for $!00 for the entire regional on Monday night.

It will be a contrast to the sections of empty seats in Clearwater.

Pirate fans did make their presence known at the AAC Tournament.

“Super important to me,” Godwin said of fan support. “It was awesome (Sunday) hearing the Purple-Gold chants. I was so happy I didn’t have to hear the (Tulane) Green Wave chants. We heard a lot of purple and gold, so that was cool.”