East Carolina Falls To USF In Regular Season Finale

Saturday, May 17

Tampa, Fla.

2:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

29-25, 13-14

South Florida

29-23, 16-11

East Carolina

South Florida

May 17, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The full AAC Baseball Championship bracket, complete with game times, will be revealed Saturday evening.