CLEARWATER, Fla. – Defending champion East Carolina is headed back to the conference title game for the fourth time in five years, as 13 hits for the Pirates carried the night in a 13-3 victory in eight innings to close Saturday play at the 2026 American Baseball Championship at BayCare Ballpark.
 
ECU (35-22-1) advanced to a rematch with No. 1 UTSA on Sunday at Noon ET on ESPNEWS with the American tournament championship on the line. The Pirates will be making their seventh American title game appearance overall (four championships), while UTSA is set for its first American final berth in baseball.
 
ECU got off to a fast start with a bunt single from Braden Burress that scored Grady Lenahan in the bottom of the first inning, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. ECU added a second run in the second inning after a wild pitch brought Austin Irby in for the 2-0 advantage.
 
The offense from the Pirates continued in the bottom of the third frame, thanks to an RBI single from Michael Kalinich and an RBI double from Irby that brought home Davin Whitaker and Kalinich for a 5-0 lead.
 
Wichita State chipped away at the deficit in the fourth and fifth innings, as a Jacob Gutierrez sacrifice fly and two-run single from Nolan Ganter got the Shockers on the scoreboard. A Colby Wallace three-run double with two outs and the bases full in the bottom of the fourth inning helped to quell the Wichita State rally and left ECU ahead 8-3 after five full.

Walker Barron delivered a two-run RBI single for ECU in the sixth inning (10-3), Kalinich added an RBI single in the seventh inning and Lenahan walked it off with a two-run home run out and gone to left field in the eighth inning, his eight homer of the season, to cap the scoring.