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.

This is a good time for ECU to gel, on both sides of the ball. They’re arguably the team to beat in Clearwater, and I’m confident will play like it, but I would think that even only another win or two at this point would get them over the hump for an at large bid in the national tournament.

The pitching situation is more dire than I'd realized, though Coach not replacing Webb in the 9th despite giving up a gaggle of hits to jeopardize (then lose) their thin lead was a hint! I guess I can't blame them for the Campbell cancellation; I'm a little surprised that the latter cooperated, but it must've worked for them too. ...REALLY need the bats to come alive and help the pitching this weekend. The Sunday dub was remarkable; it goes without saying that they cannot expect to rely on shutouts. Go Pirates.

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I like the analogy. For every juggled chainsaw, the defense had an answer. I thought Hoagland pitched like a young man who has grown up a little bit going back to the Duke game. Holding on to second place with this win is huge. The Pirates control their fate, beat FAU and the get tournament 2nd seed.

…a desperately needed dub; who’d have thought before the game that 3 runs (really, 1 run) would win it for them?! It felt like the pitchers (particularly Payne) were juggling chainsaws the whole game, but thank God for them hanging in there, not to mention the excellent defense behind them, to earn the goose egg.

Bottom of the ninth, down 5-3, and two batters don’t take the bat off their shoulders. Sadly, that is an appropriate summation of the Pirates offense for 2026. How can you allow the plate umpire to determine your fate. Yes, Norby made a couple of waist-high mistakes. He knows his fastball doesn’t have the horsepower to make a living “up in the zone.” And, anyone who’s ever toed the rubber knows what can happen to a hanging curve. Certainly, nobody questions his competitiveness. His ‘hbp’ count has been his biggest problem, and it came back to bite him on Saturday. Still, with decent offensive support, the Pirates could have picked up the ‘W’. With all of the highs and lows experienced by the Pirates this year, a win on Sunday will keep the Pirates in second place going into the last conference series. We will find out just how much guts these Pirates have. It won’t be easy, as the pitching will be a question mark for all nine innings. If ECU doesn’t come to the plate on every at-bat with the mindset of getting a hit first, and a walk second, not much is going to change. That doesn’t mean guess what’s coming. Focus on every pitch, and don’t let the umpire decide the outcome!

The Rice fly ball hit to left field after the Irby error was definitely misplayed, and became another missed 3rd out, which was only mentioned by the color guy in passing. Of course, they were already down by then, so in retrospect, it didn’t matter. Yes, clearly CG felt he had no option, given how long he left Webb in, but that Irby error was the real killer, as they were still tied at the time. This is a very bad time for a losing streak; hopefully it stops today.

While the Irby error started the dam break of runs, the table was set for Rice when Webb was left on the mound when it was clear the Owls bats had caught up to him. This isn’t a dig at anyone. I doubt whether AK or CG felt there was another go-to guy to bring in. The injuries to the Pirates pitching once again bites ECU. Does anyone doubt whether Sean King would have been on the mound in the ninth? Some how, the Pirates have to survive this gut punch, and come out hot on Saturday. The Pirates are still in second place in the AC, and with a win today, will remain in second going into the last week against FAU. Forget about Sunday, and next week. Your backs are against the wall today.