East Carolina baseball gets another shot at achieving its quest of a College World Series berth, as the Pirates return to the NCAA Tournament.
After winning the American Conference tournament over the weekend in Florida, ECU (36-22-1) was placed into the Chapel Hill Regional, it was announced Monday, May 25, during the NCAA Selection Show.
The Pirates will take on Tennessee in their opening game, with the winners and losers squaring off against No. 5 national seed North Carolina or Atlantic 10 champion VCU.
What to know about East Carolina
The Pirates had an up-and-down campaign and may not have made the field without winning the automatic qualifier. They had lost five of six conference games down the stretch to fall into a tie for the conference’s regular-season title before ending the regular season with a sweep at Florida Atlantic and then going 3-1 in the conference tournament.
Ethan Norby was the American tournament MVP after getting a save in the Pirates’ opening win over Rice, then winning the winner-take-all finale against UTSA as a reliever with 5 ⅔ innings and eight strikeouts.
Norby leads the pitching staff with a 7-3 record over 14 starts and the two relief appearances last week, striking out 120 batters in 83⅔ innings.
On offense, the Pirates have five regulars hitting over .300, led by outfielder Jack Herring’s .358 average and 1.085 OPS. He leads the team in doubles and RBI and is tied for first in home runs.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: East Carolina baseball faces Tennessee to open NCAA Tournament