ECU picked up their fifth straight victory in a 6-1 road win over Wichita State at Eck Stadium to clinch their first AAC regular season title.
Alec Burleson had three hits and four RBI to lead the Pirates at the plate. Brady Lloyd had a pair of hits and scored three runs in the victory. Dusty Baker and Turner Brown added a pair of hits in game one of the three game weekend series.
Jake Agnos got the start and the win for ECU to move to 8-2 on the season. Agnos has now thrown 26 straight scoreless innings and gave up just four hits with six strikeouts and five walks in seven innings of work for the Pirates Friday night.
With the victory, ECU improved to 38-11 and 17-2 in AAC play while Wichita State dipped to 22-27 and 6-13 in league play. ECU's 17 wins is the 2nd-most in American Athletic Conference history and is just two wins shy of the American record with 5 games remaining.
Shocker starter Liam Eddie lasted six innings, giving up five runs on ten hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks in falling to 4-7 on the year with the loss.
The Pirates got the scoring started with the bases loaded in the second inning when Alec Burleson slapped a base hit to left to give ECU a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Turner Brown’s single to centerfield brought Spencer Brickhouse in from second base who had doubled earlier. That gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
After a Brady Lloyd base hit in the sixth moved Dusty Baker to third, Baker stole home to increase the ECU lead to 4-0. That was followed by an Burleson base hit to right that scored another run to put the Pirates up 5-0.
Burleson’s SAC fly to left field in the eighth made it 6-0 when Brady Lloyd scored from third base.
Ross Cadina scored Wichita State’s only run of the game in the bottom of the ninth when he scored from third base on a double-play throwing error on Brady Lloyd on his toss to first.
Game two between the Pirates and Shockers is set for Saturday at 3 o’clock eastern time.