Ethan Norby took a perfect game into the sixth inning and East Carolina’s baseball team banged out 15 hits in a 6-1 win over Wichita State on Saturday.
Buccaneer Scoreboard – ECU Baseball with a 6-1 win to even the series at 1-1 with Wichita State. Series finale Sunday at 2pm eastern. pic.twitter.com/FRnCoEE7ZA
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 3, 2025
The win evened the series with the Shockers going into Sunday’s 2 p.m. game.
Below is more from ECU Sports Information.
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Photo credit: Ethan Norby (ECU Sports Information photo)
WICHITA, Kan. – East Carolina ace Ethan Norby took a perfect game into the sixth inning and the offense pounded out 15 hits Saturday afternoon as the Pirates downed host Wichita State 6-1 to even the teams’ American Athletic Conference series inside Eck Stadium.
Norby (6-4) was sensational for the second-straight week, allowing just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 7.1 innings. Colby Wallace covered the final 1.2 frames without surrendering a run as he locked down his third save of the year. Brady Hamilton (2-6) was tagged with the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Braden Burress and Alex Bouche bookended the ECU (27-20, 11-9 AAC) lineup with three hits apiece while Wallace also did his part offensively, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. Davis Mauzy drove in the only run for the Shockers (14-31, 6-14 AAC).
…and got the W😮💨✅ @norby_ethan https://t.co/LCeC8nGeMF pic.twitter.com/2rk4wnoYvN
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) May 3, 2025
ECU created the first scoring chance of the day in the top of the third as Davin Whitaker drew a leadoff walk and Bouche lined one in the hole at short for an infield single. With two away, Ryley Johnson came through with an RBI single that plated Whitaker for an early Pirate advantage.
🏴☠️⚾️💥🚀 Colby Wallace was on the mound in the 8th inning to shut down the Shockers, now he puts one in a wheat field somewhere to make it a 6-1 ECU Baseball lead over Wichita State in the 9th inning. pic.twitter.com/8BxjwJiQSb
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 3, 2025
Dixon Williams sparked another rally with a leadoff single to right center in the top of the fourth. He advanced to second via a Wallace sacrifice bunt before Austin Irby worked a free pass of his own and Whitaker reached on an error to load the bases with one out. Walker Barron then drove in East Carolina’s second run of the day with a groundout before the half inning came to a close.
🏴☠️⚾️ Jack Herring makes it 5-0 ECU Baseball over Wichita State in the top of the 8th inning with this insurance knock. pic.twitter.com/oEz2pB7Huo
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 3, 2025
The Pirates kept the pressure on in the fifth, utilizing a Burress leadoff single, Johnson sac bunt and Jack Herring walk to create some traffic with one away. With Williams at the dish and a 2-2 count on the board, the junior laced a double into the left center gap to score Burress and Wallace plated Herring on a subsequent grounder to leave ECU in front 4-0.
🏴☠️⚾️ Dixon Williams helped put ECU Baseball on top with this RBI double and an absolute gem on the mound by Ethan Norby has the Pirates with a 4-0 lead on Wichita State in the 8th inning of game 2. pic.twitter.com/GcuKYEhQ2e
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 3, 2025
Herring stretched the upper hand to five with an RBI single in the top of the eighth before Wichita State mounted a charge in the bottom of the frame. A two-out Cole Dillon double and a walk led to a Mauzy run-scoring single to put the Shockers on the board. Wallace took the mound from there and issued a free pass to Kam Durnin that loaded the bags, but he answered with a strikeout to quell the rally in its tracks.
With momentum on his side, Wallace placed the exclamation point on the day with a ninth-inning leadoff home run that he belted off the scoreboard to provide the game’s final margin. He would allow a leadoff single in the bottom of the frame but induced a double play and fly ball to center that extinguished the home side for good.
Up Next: East Carolina and Wichita State return to the field Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT for the series rubber game.