East Carolina Wins Tournament, Joins UTSA In NCAA Regional Play For American
From a conference that receives criticism and slack from the fans of its programs within, the American Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament brought excitement on multiple levels. After the Pirates of East Carolina won the Championship, 8-2 over Tulane, this created an additional bid for the AAC in the upcoming NCAA Baseball Championship. With this, it was announced on Monday, March 26th, that both East Carolina and the UTSA Road Runners will make the Regional appearances in the 2025 tournament.
How Did They Get Here?
East Carolina Pirates
We will begin with the Pirates, as their run in the tournament was not projected by many across the country. The number six-seed East Carolina, in the tournament, started the week with a 9-3 win over the number three USF Bulls. This pits the Pirates against the number two seed, the Charlotte 49ers. In the second round of action, ECU prevailed 6-5, setting up a rematch against USF in an elimination game for the Bulls. In the end, South Florida would be sent home 9-7 by ECU.
UTSA Road Runners
We now transition to the Road Runners from San Antonio. On Tuesday, the top-seeded UTSA ran through Rice, the eighth seed, 8-2. On Thursday, Tulane made waves across the conference and nation with a dominating 10-6 victory. With the loss, UTSA faced Florida Atlantic in an elimination game. In the end, UTSA prevailed, 6-3, setting up a rematch with the Green Wave. The difference in the second meeting is that Tulane had an opportunity to send UTSA back to San Antonio. In the end, the Road Runners were sent home following the 6-3 win for Tulane. This win set the Green Wave up in the above championship game versus ECU. Entering that contest, Tulane had won 9 consecutive American Athletic Tournament games.
When Do They Start Regional Play?
The Pirates, a three seed, are headed to the Conway Regional hosted by the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. In this region, ECU {33-25} will face the Florida Gators {38-20}, a two seed, in their first game, which will be televised on ESPN2. This is scheduled to begin on Friday, May 30th, at noon. The second game of this Regional will feature the host Coastal Carolina and number fourth seed, and, 39-17 this season, Fairfield. East Carolina will make their 35th career overall and seventh consecutive NCAA Regional appearance.
Next is the American regular season champion, UTSA, who will be a two seed in the Austin Regional. The host, the Texas Longhorns, will also welcome the fourth-seeded Houston Christian and the third-seeded Kansas State, a former Big 12 foe for the Longhorns. UTSA will begin its play against the Wildcats on Friday at 1 p.m. Central time on ESPN+. This will be the fourth NCAA Regional appearance for UTSA and is their highest seed in program history in a Regional.
In closing, each of these teams is playing for their campuses but also the conference. In the age of “Conference Explosions”, the American continues to compete at a high level. If you were to ask any opposing coach for these teams in preparation for the upcoming weekend series, they would all unveil this as well.
