Pirates drop series finale to host Blazers

by | Apr 20, 2025

The East Carolina baseball team dropped a 16-9 decision to Alabama-Birmingham in Saturday’s AAC series finale.

The Pirates (24-17, 9-6 AAC) led 8-1 but couldn’t maintain good pitching as the Blazers roared back to win it. Next for ECU is NC State on Tuesday.

Below is a report on Saturday’s game from ECU Sports Information.

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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information photo)

By ECUPirates.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – East Carolina led 8-1 in Sunday’s American Athletic Conference series finale against UAB, but the Blazers found their offense in the middle to late frames to win a 16-9 decision and avert the sweep inside Young Memorial Field.

The Pirates (24-17, 9-6 AAC) captured their third series victory of conference play and exit the weekend in a tie with Florida Atlantic and Charlotte for third place in the league standings – just a game back of South Florida for second. UAB (20-20, 5-10 AAC) is currently tied with Rice for seventh place and the final two available spots in the conference tournament.

Braden Burress capped a torrid week at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance, adding three runs scored to his ledger. Jack Herring and Austin Irby posted three hits apiece and combined for five RBI. Camden Hayslip drove in a game-high six runs for the Blazers while Wesley Helms notched four hits, two runs scored and three RBI.

Jackson DiLorenzo (2-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering two runs on one hit in just one third of an inning. Issac Warrick (3-2) was the winning pitcher, limiting ECU to one run on three hits in 3.2 frames of work.

It was all Pirates in the early going as a three-run Walker Barron double and Irby RBI single got East Carolina off to a 4-0 advantage. A fielder’s choice play saw Burress cross home in the second and push the lead to five before an RBI groundout put UAB on the board. Irby kept things going with a two-run home run in the top of the third, increasing the Pirate cushion to 7-1 and a Herring RBI single made it 8-1 before the half inning ended.

The Blazers began the comeback in the bottom of the third, using three home runs to account for a four spot and reducing their deficit to three. The sides traded runs in the fourth inning before UAB notched what would turn out to be 10 unanswered runs over the fifth through eighth frames. ECU went down in order in the top of the ninth to close out the afternoon.

Up Next: The Pirates pay a visit to NC State Tuesday, April 22. First pitch inside Doak Field at Dail Park is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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