Champs Again: Pirates Take AAC Title, Punch Ticket to the NCAA Tournament

East Carolina is headed back to the postseason and they’re doing it as tournament champions.

East Carolina (33-25) has now won seven consecutive tournament or regular season league championships dating back to 2018.After a rocky regular season, ECU came into the week as the No. 6 seed. They leave it with the trophy in hand and plenty of momentum.

Four Straight Wins, All Business

The Pirates didn’t take the easy road.

They opened the tournament with a 9–4 win over third-seeded USF on Tuesday, then followed it up by edging second-seeded Charlotte 6–5 on Thursday. On Saturday, they eliminated USF with a 9–7 win to reach the championship.

Sunday’s final was all ECU. The Pirates grabbed an early lead and never let go, controlling the game from the mound and cashing in timely hits to put Tulane away.

Burress Earns MVP Honors

Freshman Braden Burress was the heart of it all once again. He went 2-for-5 in the title game with a double and two RBIs and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after batting .450 with two home runs during the week.

“It was always just one game, one AB, one pitch at a time this week,” Burress said. “You can’t take anything for granted. You never know if we’re going out in two games or winning the whole thing.

We were just taking it one game at a time and then moving on to the next one.”

Herring Homers, Johnson Delivers Again

Jack Herring crushed a three-run homer in the fifth that helped stretch the lead, finishing 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Ryley Johnson, playing in his final conference tournament, came through with a two-run double to give ECU a lift and ended the day 1-for-4 with three driven in.

The Pirates only had seven hits, but they made them count and drew four walks to keep the pressure on.

Jenkins Answers the Call

Freshman Sean Jenkins got the ball on championship Sunday and delivered when the Pirates needed it most. He went 5.1 innings, allowing just four hits and one run while striking out three to earn the win.

“Sean Jenkins was tremendous today,” head coach Cliff Godwin said. “It was the biggest start of his career, but I told him his good was good enough. To go out there, compete one pitch at a time, not overcomplicate it. He was special.”

Ethan Norby followed with 2.2 innings and struck out four. Brad Pruett got the final three outs.

Godwin: “This One Is Special”

It’s been an up-and-down season, and Godwin made sure to take it all in.

“This one is special,” he said. “The adversity that this group has been through, the drama, the injuries. Man, I’ve earned every cent of my salary this year, I can tell you that.

I’m super proud of our guys just sticking together. Look, we could’ve folded and just gone 0-2. But we kept showing up.”