Ethan Norby went seven strong innings on the mound and the East Carolina offense got its four runs early in a 4-2 win over Rice to open their three-game series on Friday in Houston.
Below is a report from ECU Sports Information with videos from ECU Baseball’s X account.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information photo)
HOUSTON – East Carolina received a solid seven-inning effort from starter Ethan Norby and scored four early runs on the way to a 4-2 victory over Rice in the teams’ American Athletic Conference series opener Friday night at Reckling Park.
7 IP
5 H
9 K’sAnother great outing from Norby tonight🔥 @norby_ethan pic.twitter.com/6wrRyToVkd
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
The Pirates (16-10, 4-0 AAC) remained atop the league standings, outhitting the Owls (6-21, 1-3 AAC) by a 7-5 margin and keeping traffic off the base paths thanks in part to turning a pair of double plays.
Norby turned in a quality start, limiting the hosts to just two runs on five scattered hits with nine strikeouts. Brad Pruett was nails out of the bullpen, locking down his second save by tossing two scoreless and hitless frames. He struck out three Rice batters against no walks in retiring all six batters he faced. Davion Hickson (0-4) took the loss, surrendering four runs (three earned) on six hits with four walks and nine strikeouts.
Let’s keep it going tomorrow😤🤟#PIRATES pic.twitter.com/e6N3Y0kzCh
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
Braden Burress extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-for-4 effort (two doubles) while Alex Bouche clubbed his fourth home run of the campaign to end the contest with three RBI. Blaine Brown was one of five Owl hitters to record just one base knock as he collected Rice’s only two RBI of the evening with a two-run home run in the middle innings.
.@Bradpruett8 comes in and slams the door on the Owls https://t.co/ZPqsmhYlyO pic.twitter.com/FwT9A5TLwM
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
After Norby and Hickson allowed just one baserunner in the first frame, ECU jumped ahead in the top of the second. John Collins roped a sharp one-out single into left field and moved to second on a fielding error. Austin Irby then drew a walk to load the bases before Bouche lifted a fly ball to center that was deep enough to score Collins from third.
Rolling ✌️ pic.twitter.com/eTl1bxsoPy
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
Burress kept the pressure on the Owls with a leadoff double in the top of the third inning, subsequently advancing to third on a Dixon Williams sacrifice bunt and scooting home on a groundout to give the Pirates a 2-0 cushion.
Kissed that one goodbye👋 https://t.co/ITW8SkXkwA pic.twitter.com/k6LmJeuPCM
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
Walker Barron gave East Carolina a one-out base runner in the fourth via a walk and Bouche took care of the rest with two away, drilling one off the top of the right field wall and over for a two-run shot that pushed the Pirate advantage to four. Brown cut the Rice deficit in half in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run job of his own, but Norby and Pruett faced the minimum over the final four frames to close out the victory.
On top early‼️ pic.twitter.com/y0t8VtA4Kk
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
.@bouche_alex opens the scoring with a sac fly that scores Big John pic.twitter.com/6M2AW5ouO3
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) March 29, 2025
- East Carolina reduced Rice’s lead in the all-time series to 24-15 with its sixth-straight win over the Owls. The victory also marked the Pirates’ first at Reckling Park since 2016.
- Norby and Pruett combined for 12 strikeouts, marking the 12th time this season ECU has fanned double-digit opposing batters.
- The Pirates improved to 4-0 in American Conference play for the first time since 2021.
- East Carolina converted both of its chances with a runner on third and less than two outs and allowed just one Rice leadoff batter to reach base in the contest.
- Williams and Burress kept their double figure on base streaks intact at 22 and 14, respectively.
Up Next: East Carolina attempts to lock up its second AAC series victory of the season when the teams reconvene Saturday at 5 p.m. EDT.