The East Carolina baseball team got a solid pitching performance from Brad Pruett and held on for a 5-3 victory over Alabama-Birmingham on Friday.
Buccaneer Scoreboard- Paint It! ECU Baseball defeats UAB 5-3 to take the road conference series. Pirates go for the Easter weekend sweep on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/xKNEoisAEo
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) April 19, 2025
The two teams play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. Below is a report from ECU Sports Information with more details.
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Photo credit: Braden Burress (ECU Sports Information photo)
By ECUPirates.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Another season-long pitching effort, this time by starter Brad Pruett, proved decisive Friday as East Carolina collected a 5-3 win over UAB to clinch an American Athletic Conference series inside Young Memorial Field.
Pruett’s (3-3) quality start lasted 6.1 innings as he allowed just two earned runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The always reliable Jake Hunter covered the final 2.2 frames without surrendering a run, striking out four with no walks to pick up his second save of the campaign. Colin Daniel, the league’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year, was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings. He finished with six strikeouts and no walks.
Braden Burress posted his third four-hit game of the season while adding three runs scored to his ledger. Dixon Williams also chipped in with two hits and a pair of RBI. Landon Beaver hit the first two home runs of his career and accounted for all of the Blazers’ (19-20, 4-10 AAC) offense, ending up with two runs scored and three driven in.
Who do you call to get out of a jam, Big Jake!@JakeHunter_19 pic.twitter.com/XL6aI4vyum
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) April 19, 2025
The Pirates (24-16, 9-5 AAC) plated the first run of the contest in textbook baseball manner as Burress led off with a single through the right side, moved to second on a Herring sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a fly ball to deep right and scored on a Williams base hit right back up the middle.
With both starters settled in throughout the first couple of innings, UAB was able to knot the score at one via a Beaver solo home run. ECU answered right back in the top of the sixth with two, however, as Williams and John Collins were hit by pitches to set up Austin Irby’s two-run double down the left field line that afforded the Pirates a 3-1 advantage.
East Carolina added to its lead in the top of the seventh with a run that proved to be the winner. The Pirates loaded up the bases with a Burress single, Drew Downs hit by pitch and Colby Wallace base knock through the right side. With one away, Williams beat out a throw to first that broke up a potential inning-ending double play and allowed Burress to score and make it 4-1.
Beaver cut the Blazer deficit to one with a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, but Hunter took it from there. He retired six-straight batters to pull within two outs away of the save and surrendered just a one-out single in the ninth before striking out JP Head and inducing a fly ball to left off the bat of Beaver to end the contest.
Up Next: ECU attempts to complete its third series sweep in conference play when the Pirates and Blazers close out the series Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT