CLEARWATER, FL — No. 2 East Carolina edged top-seeded Texas-San Antonio, 1-0, for its second straight American Conference tournament championship at BayCare Ballpark on Sunday.
The outcome assured the Pirates of their eighth consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Ethan Norby made an extended relief appearance and was named Most Outstanding Player of the event. Norby had his first save of the season on Friday in a 4-3 tournament win over Rice.
“I wanted the ball,” said Norby, a left-handed junior, via Zoom. “I wanted to give everything I had for this team.”
Norby pitched seven innings and Joe Webb tossed the last two in a 3-0 win at UTSA on March 27, the only other time the Roadrunners were shut out this season.
“Hats off to Norby, because he’s good,” said Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark. “It’s every bit of 92, 93 (miles per hour) and it plays up with some of the metrics. He can tick that inside corner. That’s what he does.”
Hallmark said Norby had a tendency to make his hitters tense.
Brett Antolick, Norby, Gavin Marley and Charlie Hoagland combined for the shutout of the Roadrunners (38-20), who shared the league’s regular season title with ECU.
Consecutive singles by Braden Burress, Davin Whitaker and Colby Wallace produced the only run of the game in the top of the sixth.
The Pirates had been denied a run in the fifth when a precise throw to the plate by left fielder Drew Detlefsen, the league Player of the Year, resulted in a tag out despite an angled, diving slide by Walker Barron.
ECU (36-21-1) outhit UTSA, 8-4. Whitaker and Barron each had two hits.
Antolick started and went an inning and two-thirds. He allowed no hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Norby, who improved to 7-3, inherited two runners in the second and got a strikeout to end the inning. He went five and two-thirds innings with four hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.
Cliff Godwin was going to pull Norby on a mound visit after a leadoff walk in the eighth, but Norby convinced the coach to let him go one more batter. Norby struck out the next batter and left the game after his 99th pitch.
Marley worked two-thirds of an inning with zeroes other than one whiff.
Hoagland pitched the ninth, getting three fly balls to bring on the dog pile. Each outfielder made a putout in the final frame. Left fielder Davin Whitaker came in on a drive initially for the first out but retreated for a leaping, sprawling grab.
Godwin joined the celebratory mass of jubilant players in gold uniforms.
“I told them I would see them in the dog pile,” said the 12th-year Pirates coach. “I had to be a man of my word. I told the guys with any shoulder problems to stay out of there.”
ECU will learn its bracket placement for the NCAA Tournament on the selection show on Monday at noon (ESPN2).
The Pirates weren’t sure of their NCAA status until emerging victorious from the defensive duel.
“I talked to Jon (Gilbert, athletic director) and he said it was 50-50 if we lost,” Godwin said. “I told the team, not to put any pressure on them, but just to be honest because that’s who I am. …
“I’ll sleep better now.”
RELATED LINKS:
When Norby has all his stuff he is as good as any pitcher in the country. He stepped up when we needed him most. Just another spectacular effort. Congrats to this team who showed guts, grit and determination to overcome the injuries this team has endured. It may have been and up and down season but this bunch showed what they are made of and won yet another title.
Whatever happens going forward, the Pirates have squeezed everything out of this season they possibly could. The regular season didn’t come close to meeting expectations as it progressed, yet some how the Pirates found themselves with a chance to lock up second place with four games to go. The Pirates did the improbable and won out, and with some help, ended the season tied for 1st place. The team showed a lot of guts. By any measure, they earned the league championship.
Hopefully, the Pirates will draw a good region.
Obviously Norby et al are the ones who do the winning, but Godwin has proven to be a master button pusher, amidst the injury adversity that has plagued this season; Cliff Godwin’s a national treasure to Pirates Nation.