East Carolina wrapped up the regular season with a 6-5 loss at South Florida on Saturday.
Buccaneer Scoreboard Final – ECU Baseball drops the final game of the regular season to USF. Next up, the AAC Tournament in Clearwater, Fl. pic.twitter.com/ZBRPNQ3yDc
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 17, 2025
The finish puts the Pirates as the No. 6 seed in the AAC Tournament, which will be held next week. ECU and South Florida, the No. 3 seed, will play again in the last game on Tuesday in the tournament.
Below are more details on Saturday’s game from ECU Sports Information.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information photo)
TAMPA, Fla. – A late East Carolina rally fell just short Saturday afternoon at the USF Baseball Stadium as South Florida held on for a 6-5 victory to end the regular season.
The American Baseball Championship 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘁⚾️🏆#AmericanWay x #AmericanBSB pic.twitter.com/o1qTZ0wx4W
— The American (@American_Conf) May 17, 2025
The Pirates (29-25, 13-14 AAC) earned the No. 6 seed for the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship and will face the No. 3 seed Bulls (29-23, 16-11 AAC) in the fourth and final opening round contest of the event Tuesday, May 20, at BayCare Ballpark in nearby Clearwater, Fla.
🏴☠️⚾️💥 Jack Herring with the big ride to make it a one run game in the 9th inning between ECU Baseball and USF. pic.twitter.com/OvWJfN0qIR
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 17, 2025
Dixon Williams accounted for three RBI off a two-run home run and bases-loaded walk while Jack Herring and Austin Irby hit solo home runs as part of the late-inning surge. Jackson Mayo and Matthew Buffington registered two hits apiece for South Florida.
🏴☠️⚾️💥 Austin Irby answers Dixon Williams’ home run with one of his own as part of the ECU Baseball comeback push in the 7th inning.
pic.twitter.com/gsC53NMDp9— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 17, 2025
Corey Kling (1-2) was credited with the win, throwing 3.2 hitless innings with two strikeouts. Bradley Zayac (1-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) with a walk and two strikeouts in 3.1 frames.
🏴☠️⚾️💥 Listen to the sound as Dixon Williams blasts this home run. ECU Baseball trailing USF 6-4. pic.twitter.com/khWzZU6hC5
— Pirate Radio ☠️ (@PR927FM) May 17, 2025
The Bulls opened the scoring with an unearned run in the bottom of the first before extending the lead to 5-0 with a four spot in the fourth. Davin Whitaker drew a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth in what would lead to a bases-loaded situation as John Collins and Braden Burress were both hit by a pitch. With two away, Williams worked a walk on a full count to plate Whitaker and put ECU on the board.
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) May 17, 2025
A Pirate throwing error led to another unearned run for South Florida, pushing its advantage to 6-1, but the Pirates utilized the long ball to get back into things in the seventh. Burress led the half inning off with a double to left center before Williams promptly deposited an 0-1 offering over the wall in center to make it 6-3. Irby then drilled one out to right to reduce the deficit to a pair.
Jack Herring hammered home East Carolina’s third homer of the day with two outs in the top of the ninth, but a fly ball to center off Irby’s bat stayed in the yard and was caught to end the game.