East Carolina run rules Tulane 15-5 to even series

by | Apr 27, 2025

East Carolina’s baseball team bounced back from Friday’s run-rule by Tulane to do the same to the Green Wave on Saturday.

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Photo credit: Dixon Williams (ECU Sports Information photo)

By ECUPirates.com

Dixon Williams delivered a career single game-high six RBI and Ethan Norby tossed six scoreless innings out of the bullpen Saturday afternoon as East Carolina evened its American Athletic Conference series with Tulane via a 15-5 eight-inning victory from Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates (25-18, 10-7 AAC) unleashed a 16-hit barrage and recorded eight of them for extra bases, including four home runs. The Green Wave (25-18, 9-8 AAC) had won five straight in the all-time series before ECU put an end to that streak.

Williams was responsible for two of those long balls, hammering a pair of three-run homers as part of a 3-for-5 performance. Ryley Johnson was back to his usual form with two hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Jack Herring also chipped in with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Gavin Schulz drove in a team-best two runs for Tulane.

Norby (5-4) was stellar in relief, striking out eight against no walks while scattering three hits in his six frames of work. Tayler Montiel (4-1) was charged with his first loss of the campaign after surrendering six runs (all earned) on six hits with a walk and no strikeouts in just one inning.

Schulz got the Green Wave out to an early advantage with a two-run shot in the top of the first, but that lead didn’t last long. Braden Burress led off the home half and reached first via a hit by pitch before Johnson sent a double down the right field line to give the Pirates runners at second and third with no outs. With two away, Williams stepped up a drilled a 2-1 pitch into the trees in right field to put East Carolina ahead.

Tulane scored three in the third to regain the upper hand, though a Colby Wallace RBI groundout kept the Pirates close – trailing by just one entering what would be the decisive fourth frame.

The half inning began innocently enough with two outs and no one on base, but Alex Bouche lined a double just inside the right field line to spark what would be a six-run outburst. Burress followed Bouche with a walk and Johnson tied the game with a RBI single before Herring ripped a pitch up the middle on a full count to score both Burress and Johnson to afford ECU a 7-5 lead. Wallace extended the frame with a single to right center and Williams provided the exclamation point, hammering his second three-run round tripper of the contest to right field.

With Norby taking care of business on the mound, the Pirates put the game away with five runs over the final two innings. Bouche made it 11-5 in the seventh with an RBI single while Davin Whitaker’s second homer of the season and his career was a three-run job that placed East Carolina on the verge of the run rule in the eighth. Austin Irby fittingly capped the day with a solo long ball to left that accounted for the 10-run margin of victory.

Up Next: The Pirates and Green Wave will play the series rubber game Sunday at 1 p.m.

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