Sunday, May 25
Clearwater, Fla.
12:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
33-25
8
vs
2
Tulane
33-25
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2
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4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
East Carolina
2
0
0
1
5
0
0
0
0
8
7
0
Tulane
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
7
1
East Carolina Stifles Tulane 8-2 In Clearwater To Capture 2025 AAC Tournament Title
May 25, 2025 | Baseball
CLEARWATER, Fla. – No. 6 East Carolina put the finishing touches on quite the impressive week in Clearwater, cruising past No. 5 seed and two-time defending American Athletic Conference Tournament Champion Tulane 8-2 inside BayCare Ballpark to claim its fourth AAC Baseball Championship title.
The Pirates (33-25) are headed to a NCAA Regional for the seventh-straight year and for the 35th time in program history. ECU will find out its destination when the national tournament field is revealed Monday at Noon.
The Green Wave (33-25) had won nine-straight conference tourney games entering Sunday's championship final but could not solve freshman RHP Sean Jenkins who dazzled with perhaps his best effort to date. The rookie surrendered just one earned run in 5.1 innings with three strikeouts in an 80-pitch outing. Michael Lombardi (4-1) was tagged with his first loss of the campaign after allowing four runs on two hits with a walk and six strikeouts over four frames of work.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player and freshman Braden Burress capped off the event by rapping out two hits and driving in a pair of runs while Jack Herring went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Ryley Johnson also contributed three RBI to the Pirates' cause. Gavin Schulz paced Tulane's lineup with three hits, a run scored and an RBI.
As he as all year long, Burress sparked the Pirate offense instantaneously with an infield single before Herring took Lombardi's first offering over the wall in left field to give ECU a 2-0 advantage in the first. The Green Wave was able to create some traffic on the base paths in the initial two frames, but Jenkins fed Tulane a steady diet of sliders and kept the designated home side off the board heading to the third.
East Carolina pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fourth with some textbook East Carolina Baseball as Dixon Williams drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third and scored on a Johnson groundout. The Pirates then delivered the knockout punch in the fifth, plating five runs on the strength of two-run doubles from Burress and Johnson as well as a Herring RBI single.
Tulane got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Schulz and added a second run in the seventh via an RBI double by Jason Wachs, but it would not be nearly enough to catch the tournament champions as Ethan Norby and Brad Pruett combined to give up just one run over the final 3.2 innings of the contest.
2025 American Baseball Championship presented by Regions
BayCare Ballpark | Clearwater, Fla.
Most Outstanding Player
Braden Burress, IF, East Carolina
All-Tournament Team
Theo Bryant, OF, Tulane
Tayler Montiel, P, Tulane
Gavin Schulz, DH, Tulane
Walker Barron, C, East Carolina
Braden Burress, IF, East Carolina
Jack Herring, OF, East Carolina
Austin Irby, IF, East Carolina
Sean Jenkins, P, East Carolina
Ryley Johnson, OF, East Carolina
Colby Wallace, IF, East Carolina
Dixon Williams, IF, East Carolina
Tuesday, May 20
Game 1: No. 5 Tulane 6, No. 4 Florida Atlantic 3
Game 2: No. 1 UTSA 4, No. 8 Rice 2
Game 3: No. 2 Charlotte 7, No. 7 Wichita State 1
Game 4: No. 6 East Carolina 9, No. 3 South Florida 4
Wednesday, May 21
Game 5: No. 4 Florida Atlantic 8, No. 8 Rice 6 (Rice Eliminated)
Game 6: No. 3 South Florida 4, No. 7 Wichita State 3 (Wichita State Eliminated)
Thursday, May 22
Game 7: No. 5 Tulane 10, No. 1 UTSA 6
Game 8: No. 6 East Carolina 6, No. 2 Charlotte 5
Friday, May 23
Game 9: No. 1 UTSA 6, No. 4 Florida Atlantic 3 (Florida Atlantic Eliminated)
Game 10: No. 3 South Florida 7, No. 2 Charlotte 6 (Charlotte Eliminated)
Saturday, May 24
Game 11: No. 5 Tulane 6, No. 1 UTSA 3 (UTSA Eliminated)
Game 12: No. 6 East Carolina 9, No. 3 South Florida 7 (South Florida Eliminated)
Sunday, May 25
Championship Game: No. 6 East Carolina 8, No. 5 Tulane 2 (Tulane Eliminated)
The Pirates (33-25) are headed to a NCAA Regional for the seventh-straight year and for the 35th time in program history. ECU will find out its destination when the national tournament field is revealed Monday at Noon.
The Green Wave (33-25) had won nine-straight conference tourney games entering Sunday's championship final but could not solve freshman RHP Sean Jenkins who dazzled with perhaps his best effort to date. The rookie surrendered just one earned run in 5.1 innings with three strikeouts in an 80-pitch outing. Michael Lombardi (4-1) was tagged with his first loss of the campaign after allowing four runs on two hits with a walk and six strikeouts over four frames of work.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player and freshman Braden Burress capped off the event by rapping out two hits and driving in a pair of runs while Jack Herring went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Ryley Johnson also contributed three RBI to the Pirates' cause. Gavin Schulz paced Tulane's lineup with three hits, a run scored and an RBI.
Keep doubting us. 🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/I5NMLkt9ZS
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) May 25, 2025
As he as all year long, Burress sparked the Pirate offense instantaneously with an infield single before Herring took Lombardi's first offering over the wall in left field to give ECU a 2-0 advantage in the first. The Green Wave was able to create some traffic on the base paths in the initial two frames, but Jenkins fed Tulane a steady diet of sliders and kept the designated home side off the board heading to the third.
East Carolina pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fourth with some textbook East Carolina Baseball as Dixon Williams drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third and scored on a Johnson groundout. The Pirates then delivered the knockout punch in the fifth, plating five runs on the strength of two-run doubles from Burress and Johnson as well as a Herring RBI single.
Tulane got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Schulz and added a second run in the seventh via an RBI double by Jason Wachs, but it would not be nearly enough to catch the tournament champions as Ethan Norby and Brad Pruett combined to give up just one run over the final 3.2 innings of the contest.
2025 American Baseball Championship presented by Regions
BayCare Ballpark | Clearwater, Fla.
Most Outstanding Player
Braden Burress, IF, East Carolina
All-Tournament Team
Theo Bryant, OF, Tulane
Tayler Montiel, P, Tulane
Gavin Schulz, DH, Tulane
Walker Barron, C, East Carolina
Braden Burress, IF, East Carolina
Jack Herring, OF, East Carolina
Austin Irby, IF, East Carolina
Sean Jenkins, P, East Carolina
Ryley Johnson, OF, East Carolina
Colby Wallace, IF, East Carolina
Dixon Williams, IF, East Carolina
Tuesday, May 20
Game 1: No. 5 Tulane 6, No. 4 Florida Atlantic 3
Game 2: No. 1 UTSA 4, No. 8 Rice 2
Game 3: No. 2 Charlotte 7, No. 7 Wichita State 1
Game 4: No. 6 East Carolina 9, No. 3 South Florida 4
Wednesday, May 21
Game 5: No. 4 Florida Atlantic 8, No. 8 Rice 6 (Rice Eliminated)
Game 6: No. 3 South Florida 4, No. 7 Wichita State 3 (Wichita State Eliminated)
Thursday, May 22
Game 7: No. 5 Tulane 10, No. 1 UTSA 6
Game 8: No. 6 East Carolina 6, No. 2 Charlotte 5
Friday, May 23
Game 9: No. 1 UTSA 6, No. 4 Florida Atlantic 3 (Florida Atlantic Eliminated)
Game 10: No. 3 South Florida 7, No. 2 Charlotte 6 (Charlotte Eliminated)
Saturday, May 24
Game 11: No. 5 Tulane 6, No. 1 UTSA 3 (UTSA Eliminated)
Game 12: No. 6 East Carolina 9, No. 3 South Florida 7 (South Florida Eliminated)
Sunday, May 25
Championship Game: No. 6 East Carolina 8, No. 5 Tulane 2 (Tulane Eliminated)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jenkins, Sean (4-4)
L: Michael Lombardi (4-1)
Batting:
2B: Burress, Braden 1 ; Johnson, Ryley 1
HR: Herring, Jack 1
RBI: Burress, Braden 2 ; Herring, Jack 3 ; Johnson, Ryley 3
SH: Collins, John 1 ; Peltier, Alex 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Burress, Braden 2 ; Herring, Jack 2 ; Williams, Dixon 1 ; Irby, Austin 1 ; Peltier, Alex 1 ; Barron, Walker 1
SB: Herring, Jack 1 ; Williams, Dixon 2 ; Parham, Nick 1
HBP: Irby, Austin 1 ; Barron, Walker 1
Batting:
2B: Jason Wachs 1 ; Theo Bryant IV 1
HR: Gavin Schulz 1
RBI: Jason Wachs 1 ; Gavin Schulz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gavin Schulz 1 ; Theo Bryant IV 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
Catcher
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Infield
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RHP
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Outfield
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LHP
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RHP
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Infield/RHP
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