Pirates head to College Park Regional

East Carolina will meet Maryland at 7:30 on Friday night

After taking out Tulsa in Saturday’s Conference USA Tournament title game, East Carolina knew it would be making its second straight NCAA appearance and third in the last four seasons.

However, where would the Pirates be headed?

Late Sunday evening, the brackets were unveiled and Tracey Kee’s club has been placed against a familiar foe in a familiar location.

ECU (39-20), which will be making the program’s fourth appearance all-time, will travel to College Park, MD where it will meet host Maryland (39-17) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening. The other match-up in the double-elimination regional will feature No. 11 seed Baylor (40-12) squaring off against Lehigh (33-21). First-pitch for that contest is scheduled for 5 p.m.

The Pirates and Terrapins have already met three times this season with Maryland having won two of those. The Terps beat the Pirates, 3-1, in Athens, GA on opening weekend. On March 9, the clubs split a doubleheader in College Park, as the Pirates took game one 3-2 before dropping the nightcap by a 4-2 final.

The Pirates are also familiar with Patriot League tournament champ, Lehigh. They defeated the Mountain Hawks 8-0 in six innings at the Pirate Clash on February 26.

East Carolina and Baylor have never played. The Bears earned an at-large berth after finishing fourth in the Big 12.

Last season, the Pirates advanced to the final of the Austin Regional before bowing out to BYU. Following a loss to BYU in game one, the Pirates took down Iona and host Texas.

Check back with CUSA-fans.com for previews of the College Park Regional and others involving CUSA teams.

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