East Carolina Eliminates No. 17 Florida, Falls To No. 11 Coastal Carolina In Conway Regional Final

Sunday, June 1

Conway, S.C.

1:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

35-26

Florida

39-22

Florida

East Carolina

East Carolina Eliminates No. 17 Florida, Falls To No. 11 Coastal Carolina In Conway Regional Final

June 02, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CONWAY, S.C. – East Carolina eliminated No. 17 Florida from the NCAA Conway Regional with an 11-4 victory Sunday afternoon, advancing to its sixth-straight regional final in the process. The Pirates' run ended there, however, dropping a tight 1-0 decision to No. 13 national seed and host Coastal Carolina in Sunday's nightcap inside Springs Brooks Stadium.

ECU (35-27) received a pair of excellent pitching performances out of freshmen Lance Williams and Bradley Zayac, nearly forcing a Monday game seven as Zayac held a potent Chanticleer lineup to just one run on four hits with four strikeouts in a career long 7.1-inning outing. Williams was also impressive in Sunday's first contest, helping the Pirates send the Gators packing out of Conway by striking out five in 5.0 innings of work.

A quartet of East Carolina players were named to the Conway Regional All-Tournament Team in Braden Burress (2B), Jack Herring (OF), Austin Irby (DH) and Ethan Norby (SP).

Needing to defeat Florida for the second time in two days, East Carolina seized control early and did not look back. Burress went 3-for-5 with three RBI while Irby, Ryley Johnson and Alex Peltier also chipped in with a pair of hits apiece. Landon Stripling paced the Florida lineup with two hits and a run scored.

The Pirates loaded the bases in each of the first three innings versus the Gators and cashed in with seven runs in those frames. Burress registered an RBI single in the second inning before a passed ball accounted for the second run. The Gators sliced the deficit in half via a Justin Nadeau RBI single in the top of the third, but ECU answered in a big way in the home half of the frame, plating five runs off a five-hit barrage. Irby, Alex Peltier and Burress all notched RBI base knocks while Herring capped the scoring in the inning with a two-run single to leave the Pirates in front 7-1.

Irby continued his torrid regional performance with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to extend the East Carolina advantage to 8-1. Florida answered with three in the top of the sixth to make things interesting, but the Pirates had the last word – scoring the final three runs of the afternoon to account for the final margin.

A pitchers' duel worthy of a regional final unfolded in the nightcap as Zayac and Chanticleer starter Riley Eikhoff traded zeros all the way to the eighth inning. A Sykes Wells leadoff single in the bottom of that frame eventually led to the game's only run as he scored on a Sebastian Alexander sacrifice fly. Dominick Carbone earned the win on the mound after covering the final 1.2 innings for Coastal Carolina.

Each team rapped out five hits each, but Wells was the only player on the field with multiple base knocks, finishing the contest 2-for-3 with the decisive runs scored.

2025 NCAA Conway Regional All-Tournament Team
C: Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina
1B: Colby Thorndyke, Coastal Carolina
2B: Braden Burress, East Carolina
3B: Landon Stripling, Florida
SS: Bobby Boser, Florida
OF: Sebastain Alexander, Coastal Carolina
OF: Wells Sykes, Coastal Carolina
OF: Jack Herring, East Carolina
Designated Hitter: Austin Irby, East Carolina
Pitcher: Ethan Norby, East Carolina
Pitcher: Riley Eickoff, Coastal Carolina

Most Outstanding Player: Colby Thorndyke, Coastal Carolina