Pirates and three other teams advance
CLEARWATER, FL — No. 2 seed East Carolina overcame an early deficit and survived a late push by No. 3 Rice for a 4-3 win in the American Conference tournament at BayCare Ballpark on Friday morning.
Ethan Norby made an unexpected relief appearance and recorded his first save of the season as the Pirates improved to 34-21-1 going into a contest on Saturday at 10 a.m. against No. 1 Texas-San Antonio. The Roadrunners blanked No. 5 Memphis 4-0 in Friday’s second game.
Ryan Towers (7-3) gave ECU a solid start and Jack Herring led the offensive support.
Herring, a switch hitter who was slighted for first team all-conference recognition, had a home run and two doubles as he boosted his batting average to .379.
Rice took a 1-0 lead without a hit in the first as ECU committed a pair of errors.
Towers kept the Owls hitless into the fifth inning.
Herring’s home run to left tied the score at 1 in the third. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed Braden Burress to score for a 2-1 Pirates lead.
ECU scored twice in the fourth as Nick Parham, Grady Lanahan and Herring had doubles.
Towers went five and two-thirds innings before Joe Webb came in, Towers yielded four hits and two runs (one earned) with one walk and five strikeouts.
Webb went one inning and surrendered one hit with one walk and two whiffs.
Norby was called on with two on and two out in the seventh. He got out of the jam with an out on a fielder’s choice.
Two walks to open the ninth led to a dramatic conclusion. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position.
Norby got a swinging strikeout before a run scored on a wild pitch and put the potential tying run at third.
Norby got the last out on a called third strike to keep the Pirates in the winners bracket.
Rice slipped to 35-23. Owls starter Ethan Sanders (5-6) was charged with the loss.
ECU committed three errors, which concerned Coach Cliff Godwin.
“We want to play better baseball,” Godwin said via Zoom. “I don’t think we played clean baseball. I don’t know if we were rusty or tight, but we didn’t look like we did at FAU.”
The Pirates closed the regular season with a 3-game sweep at Florida Atlantic.
ECU had an 8-6 lead in hits.
The Pirates will make another early start on Saturday.
“We’ll get some food and hydration,” Godwin said. “Not touching the sun the rest of the day (Friday). Get in bed tonight, early. Get a good breakfast and come back over here tomorrow.”
No. 3 Rice and No. 5 Memphis were eliminated in Friday’s final two games. No. 4 UAB defeated the Owls 9-6 and No. 7 Wichita State knocked off the Tigers 6-4 in the nightcap.
Any win is a good win, particularly when you do your very best to spot your opponent a couple of runs. ECU actually committed 3 errors in the 1st inning. Replay clearly showed Irby’s throw to 2nd base pulled Parham off the bag. Fortunately, Rice didn’t want to spend a challenge. I know Lenahan is young, but, he has to know that the center fielder is the traffic cop on fly balls like the one Parham misplayed. Lenahan should have called everyone off the play. Credit Ryan Towers for maintaining his composure and limiting the damage to a single run. Whether or not pitching Norby as a closer comes back to bite the Pirates in the butt, it probably was the right call. Staying in the winner’s bracket is worth it.
The Pirate offense did just enough to get by, missing out on a couple of early opportunities to plate some runs. Jack Herring is a stud. He is all business at the plate. Lenahan’s bat is close to being as productive as before his injuries. It would be huge if Parham could get hot and add some pop to the bottom of the order.
The Pirates did what they needed to do. Tomorrow will be tough, and playing clean defense isn’t an option. UTSA will be on their game. Hopefully, so will the Pirates.