CHAPEL HILL — A 9-3 loss to host North Carolina in the regional championship closed the 2026 season for East Carolina on Sunday as the Pirates fell behind early and were unable to recover.
A pitching staff depleted by injuries was exposed with ECU’s fourth game in three days. Two weekend starters — Gavin Van Kempen and Colby Weber — were lost during the season as well as bullpen ace Sean Jenkins.
No smoke and mirrors could conceal the arms shortage on a sunny afternoon at Boshamer Stadium before a crowd of 4,022 as Ryan Towers and Ethan Norby made valiant efforts on short rest.
Neither lefty was up to their usual standard.
The Pirates started Towers, who had gone the first four innings Friday in a 7-3 win in 14 innings over Tennessee, throwing 54 pitches.
Towers (7-4) was in a 2-out situation with runners at second and third in the bottom of the first inning Sunday when an error on shortstop Nick Parham got the Tar Heels on the board. Parham initially picked up a hard-hit ball on the hop but then lost the handle.
A single by Tyler Howe brought in another unearned run for a 2-0 UNC lead in the opening frame.
The hosts loaded the bases in the bottom of the second on a hit and two walks from Towers before ECU brought in Norby, who threw 65 pitches over four and two-thirds innings on Friday against the Volunteers.
Norby hit Owen Hull with his first pitch to force in a run. Erik Paulsen had a 2-run single for a 5-0 lead.
Grady Lanahan hit a home run to left field in the third off UNC starter Folger Boaz to get the Pirates on the board and cut the lead to 5-1.
A 3-run third extended UNC’s advantage to 8-1. Hull had a 2-run single and Macon Winslow contributed a sacrifice fly. Parham mishandled a potential double play ball that could have closed the inning with no runs.
It was a tough day for Parham, who hit into a double play before Lanahan homered.
UNC had four unearned runs.
ECU loaded the bases in the fourth after a 1-out double by Michael Kalinich, but Austin Irby grounded into a double play to stop the threat.
Joe Webb came in to retire the Heels in order in the fourth. Webb went three and one-third innings. He allowed two hits, one run (earned) with two walks and three strikeouts.
Lanahan got his second RBI in the fifth after a leadoff single by Walker Barron. A wild pitch by UNC reliever Walker McDuffie allowed Barron to move to second. Barron went to third on a ground out by Matthew Lashley, who finished the game at short.
A single to right by Lanahan brought in Barron. Braden Burress singled to move Lanahan to third and Kalinich had a run-scoring single to center to bring the Pirates within 8-3.
Jackson Rose (4-0) did not allow a hit over the last four innings for UNC and was credited with the win.
The hosts finished the scoring in the seventh on an RBI double by Jake Schaffner that closed the day for Webb.
Gavin Marley shut the Heels down for the second straight day, going the last one and two-thirds with one hit, no runs, no walks and three strikeouts.
Marley pitched the last three and two-thirds innings Saturday and held the No. 5 national seed scoreless in a 7-5 ECU loss.
Each team had nine hits. Lanahan had two hits, two runs and two RBIs. He had six RBIs in a 10-3 win over UNC at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Feb. 21.
Burress, Kalinich and Barron each had two hits for ECU.
Burress, Jeff Sabater and Kalinich made the all-regional team from the Pirates.
The Tar Heels (48-11-1) advance to host a Super Regional against the winner of the College Station regional at Texas A&M.
First, congratulations to the Pirates for leaving it all on the field to finish a tough season. On a day that included a shutout of VCU – take a bow, Ethan Rose – the Tarheels proved why they are the #5 seed. ECU as a team looked tired, which was certainly understandable. Whereas the Pirates took advantage of the freebies issued by VCU, it was ECU giving out freebies to UNC. Walks and HBPs put the Pirates under pressure, and a couple of errors resulted in several unearned runs. Towers and Norby gave it all they had, as did Joe Webb and Gavin Marley, the latter effectively shutting down UNC. The last nails in the coffin for ECU were two double play ground balls which killed two potential rallies.
In reality, the first nail in the coffin proved to be the classic, 14-inning victory over Tennessee. As the ESPN announcers noted, CG went “all in” against the Vols, using both Towers and Norby to secure the win. The strategy almost worked, but the Pirates came up short in the 1-0 game against the Tarheels, 5-7.
Looking forward, I hope the Pirates can hold on to the talent that has developed this year. It’s going to be tough with all the NIL being thrown around by schools with deeper financial resources. It would be great if CG and crew doesn’t have to go through another roster rebuild. Hopefully, Jenkins, Weber, and Trammel will have successful recoveries, as well as Van Kempen.
It was another great season; hats off to Coach, Norby, et al; they remain the class of the American, and soon we’ll hopefully see how far they can go absent the injury bugaboo.
The game was closer that the score might indicate. As already noted, the dp’s, especially with the bases juiced and 1 out, were particularly painful, as was the 2nd error. Just before the 2nd dp, I was a little surprised that CG hadn’t sent the guy on 3rd on the outfield hit that got him there; they were already in a hole by then, and I’d have expected a little more aggressiveness.
EN understandably didn’t have his best stuff, but the 2nd error victimized him for two runs, so I’d have expected CG to try riding him a little longer, but whatever…
Everything really gelled late for this team; they became fun to watch. I imagine they have some flight risks; will they be able to hold on to Lenehan? He is beastly at the plate.
On to Tuscaloosa.
One other item I forgot to note, Jack Herring clearly wasn’t at 100%. I think if he had been healthy the Pirates would’ve been more productive through the order. He was such a constant presence down the stretch.