Pirates Take Series Opener Over Bulls In Tampa

Thursday, May 15

Tampa, Fla.

6:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

29-23, 13-12

South Florida

27-23, 14-11

East Carolina

South Florida

May 15, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. – East Carolina was in control from start to finish Thursday, defeating host South Florida 5-1 in the teams' American Athletic Conference series opener at the USF Baseball Stadium.

The Pirates (29-23, 13-12 AAC) pulled into a tie with Tulane for fifth place in the league standings while also drawing with a game of both Florida Atlantic and South Florida (27-23, 14-11 AAC) for third with two more to play in the regular season.

ECU's trio of pitchers were outstanding, combining for 13 strikeouts against just two walks while limiting the Bulls to just one earned run. Brad Pruett (4-5) was credited with the win after allowing just one run and striking out five in three innings of work. Starter Lance Williams matched his career-long outing, tossing four shutout frames with three strikeouts to begin the contest. Ethan Young then locked down his third save of the campaign, striking out five of the last six batters of the evening in two perfect innings. Jack Nedrow (5-3) was tagged with the loss, surrendering five runs on nine hits with one walk and no strikeouts in 6.0 frames.

Austin Irby notched a two-hit performance near the top of the lineup while Dixon Williams finished with a club-best three RBI off his team-leading 11th home run of the campaign. Ryan Pruitt paced the home side with two hits in the leadoff spot.

If you leave it middle-middle, @dixonwilliams3 is going to put it over the scoreboard and batting cages 👀😤 pic.twitter.com/CSq9uoT91L
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) May 15, 2025

USF put up the first scoring threat of the night in the bottom of the third inning, loading the bases with one out, but Williams was equal to the task, inducing a 6-4-3 double play started beautifully by Alex Bouche at short to keep the Bulls off the board. The Pirates took the momentum and ran in the top of the fourth as Herring and Irby led off with consecutive singles before Williams took a 1-0 pitch and deposited it well over the wall in right to give East Carolina a lead it would not relinquish.

Davin Whitaker sparked another rally in the top of the sixth with a leadoff double to right and a Colby Wallace single put runners on the corners with no outs. Drew Downs then laid down a safety squeeze to get Whitaker in from third and Braden Burress capped the half inning with an RBI single to leave ECU in front by a 5-0 margin.

South Florida menaced one last time in the bottom of the eighth. Carter Murphy roped a leadoff single to right and Pruitt doubled down the right field line before Carlos Jacome drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with no outs. Young entered the game at that point and cleaned things up by allowing just a lone sacrifice fly and striking out two to preserve the Pirates' advantage. He then struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.

Up Next: The teams continue the series Friday at 6:30 p.m.