ECU claims American Athletic Conference baseball title, AQ to NCAA tournament

By ECU Media Relations
Published in Sports on May 25, 2015 1:51 PM

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ECU Media Relations

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Hunter Allen cranked out three hits and earned Most Valuable Player honors as East Carolina defeated Houston, 9-1, in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship game Sunday afternoon.

The Pirates claimed their first conference tournament title since 2002 and clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The 64-team field top eight seeds were announced earlier today. The 16 regional sites were announced Sunday evening.

Nick Durazo worked five innings of one-hit shutout relief as the No. 2-seeded Pirates went 4-0 during the tournament. Luke Bolka smashed a two-run homer for East Carolina, which scored eight of its nine runs with two outs against Houston.

Left fielder Luke Lowery batted 2-for-5 with three RBI, while center field Reid Love ended the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Lowery, Love and pitcher Joe Ingle each earned a nod on the 12-player All-AAC tournament team.

The No. 9 hitter in the Pirates' lineup, Bolka -- who had just 24 at-bats and one RBI prior to the game -- gave ECU a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh with a two-run homer over the left-field fence. That ignited a five-run fifth inning that effectively put the game away.

Lowery added a bases-loaded single to make it 6-1.

The lead proved to be plenty for Durazo, who came on after Pirate starting pitcher David Lucroy was unable to start the fifth inning due to cramping. Durazo retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced, allowing only an eighth-inning single, and struck out five to improve to 5-0 on the year.