The East Carolina baseball team’s season came to an end on Monday following an upset at the hands of Evansville. The Pirates failed to advance out of the regional field despite hosting as one of the nation’s top 16 seeds.

After the loss, head coach Cliff Godwin was fuming. The postgame handshake line devolved into a shouting match as the manager voiced his disgust with the opposing Purple Aces.

In one of the more exciting opening rounds of NCAA Tournament, an unexpected result came to fruition after the regional final. Evansville emerged victorious in the four-day event, becoming just the ninth four-seed in college baseball history to advance to a Super Regional series.

 

Things got off to a great start for the Purple Aces (and a rocky one for ECU) as Evansville knocked off the Pirates in their first meeting. ECU would battle back in the loser’s bracket while Evansville remained perfect, setting up a rematch on Sunday with the Pirates’ season on the line.

East Carolina got the job done in that elimination game, albeit with a little help from the umpiring crew, to force a winner-take-all rubber match on Monday. That decisive final outing certainly delivered!

The host Pirates seemed on their way to redemption, taking a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth frame. The scare was over, and the plan back on track… right? Wrong!

Not going down without a fight, the Purple Aces plated four runs over their next two at-bats to take a 6-5 advantage. They finally grabbed that lead thanks to a three-run bomb off the bat of Mark Shallenberger.

The score would remain that way through the game’s conclusion as Evansville kept ECU off the scoreboard across the last four innings.

A celebration quickly ensued!

East Carolina’s baseball coach was heated!

As Evansville players rushed onto the field to celebrate their upset win, Cliff Godwin was seen arguing with the Purple Aces coaching staff in the postgame handshake line.

Was he mad about the dogpile on his home turf? Upset with the final outcome? It was likely a bit of both given the deflating, and unanticipated, end to the year.

The 2024 Pirates had hoped to become the team to finally break through and get the program to Omaha. Instead, the story ended as it has so many times before with a failure to advance out of the first round.

As for Evansville, they’ll continue celebrating this win all week. Unfortunately, the road to Omaha doesn’t get any easier as the nation’s No. 1 overall seed Tennessee awaits!