Very proud of the way the Pirates fought back. It was no secret the Pirates were short on pitching, and it caught up to ECU against a solid UNC pitching staff. The Pirate offense needed to be productive whenever a runner advanced to scoring position, and it wasn’t to be. Only the Lord and CG/AK know who will take the mound against VCU. The ESPN announcers mentioned VCU pitching was in fairly good shape going into Sunday. Hopefully the Pirate bats will get active early and often, producing multiple crooked innings. Would not be surprised if Wallace and/or Bouche make a mound appearance before it’s over.

The Pirates played with heart, grit and determination and beat another solid SEC team. By the way the SEC went 10-2 yesterday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. It was just a great college baseball game in every facet. Cliff once again showed why he is one of the best head coaches in the nation. On to Saturday and a huge matchup with UNC. I think some more magic is coming by these Pirates

I hope you're right. It's UNC tomorrow evening, which used very little pitching vs. VCU. It's likely that a big offensive showing will need to get it done for ECU, at least for tomorrow.

I think getting Antolick back, and with Hoagland being pretty solid his last couple of outings, CG has more go-to arms available. As you noted, CG made the right changes at the right times. I don’t think EN is hurt, or was gassed. I expect CG was saving Norby for at least one more appearance. Hopefully, Antolick has another appearance in him for this regional. The Pirates saved their best performance of the year for when they needed it most. They will need to keep the pedal down tomorrow, as UNC is looking very solid against VCU.

P. S. I was very surprised by the Norby departure. The broadcasters kept remarking on how CG was "all in" on the game, and so it seemed, so I definitely didn't expect the EN exit; I hope that he's OK.

This is truly one for the ages; the game MVP would need to be shared by many Pirates, and once again, CG offers a Masters class in decision-making.

Undoubtedly UNC did NOT want to see local rival ECU in its bracket; the Pirates should be playing with more a free wheeling "house money" attitude. UTSA got jobbed; the American got disrespected.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When your pitchers issue 5 walks and hit 7 batters, the offense better score a bunch of runs. As has been the case several times this year, the Pirates couldn’t get the hits when they needed them. UTSA didn’t run the Pirates off of the field by any means, but the difference in quality of pitching was apparent. As I tap out this comment, WSU and UAB are tied at 5, middle of the 4th, so if the Pirate can find a couple of arms who can throw strikes, maybe the bats will come alive against whichever depleted pitching staff they face. No need to save anything for tomorrow. Pull out all the stops.

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.

ECU will play FAU (again), WSU or Rice on Fri. Rice will have played the day prior, and the other two on both days prior, so ECU (and UTSA) getting two byes is a pretty significant advantage.

I don’t know if the Pirates are the team to beat, but you have to give them credit for for turning on the offense at the right time, and not turning it off until the Owls were done. Towers, Norby, and Payne all made quality starts, and the relief pitching was fairly solid. If the offense can keep clicking, that might take some of the pressure off of a pretty lean pitching staff. You might be right Irish, maybe this team is gelling at the best of all times. Let’s hope they can keep it up for a few more weeks.