East Carolina has played just two games in the 2011 Conference USA Baseball Tournament in Pearl, MS, but as they used to say on ABC's "Wide World of Sports," the Pirates have experienced "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

Sequentially, the agony of defeat preceded the thrill of victory.

Sixth-seeded Houston stunned third-seeded ECU on Wednesday with five runs on seven hits in the top of the ninth inning to overcome a three-run deficit and take an 8-5 win.

It was reminiscent of an earlier matchup with the Cougars on April 21 when the Pirates erased a 4-1 Houston lead with two out in the ninth and eventually took a 5-4 victory in 12 innings except the spikes were on the other foot.

"Last night was baseball," said ECU coach Billy Godwin. "They got five hits in a row. Against our pitching staff that hasn't happened a lot. We didn't make it bigger than life. We told our guys to come back and be ready to compete tonight. That's exactly what they did."

ECU (38-19) was looking at a bad case of deja vu on Thursday night when Tulane scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 2. The Green Wave loaded the bases in the tenth but Kevin Brandt (7-3) escaped the jam. Corey Thompson came through with a two-run double to left-center in the 11th to lift the Pirates to an important 4-2 win.

"I was excited the way our guys competed," Godwin said by phone after the dramatic win. "Certainly, to lose the lead in the ninth and then battle back, it was a great win for us. It was much needed. Corey played very well. He had a great defensive play in the eighth and really swung the bat well for us."

The Pirates are 4-0 against a traditionally-strong Tulane program over the last eight days with all of the wins coming away from the friendly confines of Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville.

The tournament venue, Trustmark Park, and the event itself got high marks from Godwin.

"It's a great event," the Pirates coach said. "The stadium's nice. It's nice."

ECU faces Southern Miss in its home state at 8:30 tonight. The Pirates need a win and some help to advance to the C-USA final.

"It's important that we come back strong," Godwin said. "We'll throw (Seth) Maness. We don't control it. We need Houston to lose tonight. They need to lose to Tulane tomorrow and then we've got to beat Southern Miss."

Maness became the winningest pitcher in ECU history with his 36th victory last week. He also became an All-C-USA selection for the fourth time prior to the start of the tournament.

"The pieces have got to fall in place for us to get to the championship game," Godwin said. "All we can control is we've got to come out and play Southern Miss."

Houston would have the tiebreaker over ECU if both teams were to finish 2-1 in pool play by virtue of the Cougars' head-to-head win over the Pirates.

At press time, Houston had just defeated USM 7-6 in 14 innings, voiding the scenario Godwin had outlined for the Pirates to earn a spot in Saturday's title game.

Godwin spoke with Bonesville between innings while scouting that game, which followed ECU's triumph over the Green Wave.

Last year, Godwin took the Pirates into the league tournament thinking they had to win the event in order to get a berth in the NCAA Tournament. A walk-off, two-run homer by Memphis in the bottom of the ninth voided a 2-1 ECU lead and short-circuited that goal. This year, ECU appears to be on better footing for the postseason with a late season run that pushed the Pirates into the national rankings.

"We're just resume building," Godwin said. "Every win is important. We're trying to play to win a championship. That's what it means. We're coming in here to compete and try to win a conference championship. We're trying to build the resume for the postseason."

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