With red-hot Gator baseball set to clash with East Carolina in the NCAA Tournament’s Conway Regional, anticipation bubbled on a fair-weathered Friday at Spring Brooks Stadium. Despite an American Athletic Conference record under .500, the AAC Champion Pirates impressed in their conference tournament with a dominating 4-0 championship run that gave them momentum heading into its NCAA Tournament draw against an SEC powerhouse.
The Gators produced a fairytale-like season, starting a dismal 1-11 in SEC play before snapping back to a 15-15 conference record and earning their 17th straight NCAA Tournament bid with six straight series wins. However, the ECU Pirates (33-25) kept up their relentless postseason push and overwhelmed Florida (38-21) 11-6.
Sophomore right-hander Liam Peterson got the nod for the Gators in Friday’s game having recorded the most wins (eight) and strikeouts (95) on the team. However, the Pirates ended Peterson’s outing after only four outs.
East Carolina freshman second baseman Braden Burress kicked off the game with a leadoff bunt and stole second.
Burress scored just three batters later as junior catcher Brody Donay, who started at the dish in replacement of injured starting catcher Luke Heyman, dropped the ball during a tag at home plate, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. It didn’t take long for ECU to tack on another run in the first inning as sophomore third baseman Colby Wallace knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Peterson’s issues bled into the second inning as he struggled to find the strike zone and avoid contact. Of the 46 pitches Peterson tossed Friday, 22 of them were called balls. He logged just 1.1 innings on the mound and was pulled after surrendering three straight singles at the top of the second inning.
Sophomore RHP Luke McNeillie entered in relief but allowed a sacrifice fly and an RBI single before ending the second inning down 4-0.
Still quiet on offense, Florida returned to defense in the third inning and quickly found the bases loaded. With two outs, junior right fielder Jack Herring drove a 3-2 pitch to right field, recording two RBI and putting Florida at a 6-0 disadvantage early.
Freshman right-hander Blaine Rowland pitched the fourth inning for UF and allowed two baserunners early. From there, freshman first baseman Austin Irby hit an RBI double to left center field, which was immediately followed by a two-RBI double off the bat of freshman left fielder Alex Peltier. By the time Florida calmed East Carolina’s offensive burst in the fourth, the Pirates led 9-0.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Ethan Norby entered the Conway Regional leading his team in wins (7) and strikeouts (109). Norby held the mound with a quick, rhythmic sense of urgency through his 7.1 innings of work.
Just as one slicing pitch had been called a strike, Norby had the ball back in his glove ready to release another, throwing Florida’s hitters off balance and keeping him in a seamless groove. The lefty finished with a 67% strike percentage, including no walks and 10 strikeouts on 116 pitches.
Freshman first baseman Lawson and junior left fielder Blake Cyr finally got to Norby in the fourth inning, each launching a solo home run off the sophomore. Despite the two deep blasts, Norby continued to manufacture strikeouts and UF trailed 9-2.
Florida remained quiet for another three innings and continued to struggle on the mound. Following Rowland, the Gators used several arms in its bullpen. Freshmen righties Caden McDonald, Christian Rodriguez and Carson Montsdeoca as well as sophomore right-hander Alex Philpott each entered the game and tossed roughly 25 pitches..
Only a triple shy of the cycle, Irby finished 4-5 and pushed the score to 11-2 by adding two more runs for the Pirates in the sixth and seventh innings.
The freshman launched a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning and notched an RBI single an inning later.
Montsdeoca was the only Gator to record more than four outs on the mound, pitching 2.2 frames and recording Florida’s only two 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth.
Norby was replaced in the eighth inning for senior righty Jake Hunter who logged the final five outs. Gators senior shortstop Bobby Boser hit a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth before freshman first baseman Brendan Lawson grounded out for the final out.
East Carolina improved to 27-6 when scoring first this season and will advance to the winner’s bracket of the Conway Regional. Florida will play either Coastal Carolina or Fairfield in the loser’s bracket at noon Saturday.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
