CLEARWATER, FL — Grady Lanahan hit a game-ending 2-run homer in the eighth inning at BayCare Ballpark on Saturday night as East Carolina topped Wichita State, 13-3, to reach the championship game of the American Conference tournament.
The second-seeded Pirates (35-22-1) will take on Texas-San Antonio (38-19) on Sunday at noon in the championship game.
“We knew we had to win one game today,” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin on the Pirate radio network. “We would have liked to have won the first game, but we’re playing for a conference championship.”
UTSA topped ECU, 4-2, earlier Saturday to drop the Pirates into an elimination game against the Shockers, who advanced to the matchup with ECU with a 14-12 win over Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.
“Not to take anything away from our pitchers, but Wichita State was gassed,” Godwin said.
Pirate pitchers Joe Webb, Ethan Rose and Thomas Paxton combined to limit the Shockers to three hits.
Webb started and went three and two-thirds innings. He allowed no hits, one run (earned) with four walks and four strikeouts.
Rose came in for an inning and two-thirds. He gave up one hit and two runs (both earned) with four walks and two strikeouts.
Paxton (1-0) got the win as he pitched the last two and two-thirds innings. He yielded two hits, no runs and one walk with five strikeouts.
ECU had 12 hits with Burress going 4-for-5 with a double, triple, three runs and an RBI. Michael Kalinich had two hits and two RBIs. Austin Irby and Walker Barron each had a hit and two RBIs.
ECU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Lanahan scored on a bunt single by Burress.
A wild pitch allowed Irby to score in the second for a 2-0 Pirates advantage.
ECU had 3-run innings in the third and fourth.
Kalinich had an RBI single to center in the third and Irby’s double down the right field line drove in two runs.
A sacrifice fly by Jacob Gutierrez got the Shockers on the board in the fourth.
Colby Wallace had a 3-run double in the fourth for an 8-1 lead.
Wichita State (31-29) pulled within 8-3 in the fifth on a 2-run single by Nolan Ganter.
Barron had a 2-run single in the sixth and Kalinich had an RBI single in the seventh for an 11-3 ECU lead.
Shockers starter Ethan Rogers (0-3) absorbed the loss.
Sunday’s title game is set to be televised on ESPN News.
Bottom line, the Pirates did enough to win. Coach Godwin said it best, the Shockers were gassed. They couldn’t take advantage of the freebies Pirate pitchers were giving out. It was clear from the start WSU couldn’t match the energy of ECU. Pirate hitters took advantage of the exhausted Shocker bullpen. The advantage of being a top-two seed proved to be most important.
Today’s game with UTSA will be even more of a challenge than the semifinal. Added to the physical strain of four games in little more than 48 hours, the Pirates aren’t sure of a bid to the CWS tournament. The conference decision to reformat the AC tournament has worked. The top seeds face each other for the championship. History suggests both UTSA and ECU should get invitations, but neither team has a stellar record. As a Pirate fan, I wonder how far Coach Godwin will stretch his two best pitchers, or if we will even see Towers or Norby. Regardless of the pitching, the Pirates better keep the bat off their shoulders. If some of the Saturday contact can fall in for hits today, the Pirates might be able to hang around. Given the walks/hbp issued so far by ECU pitching, the Pirates will need to plate a lot of runs.