CLEARWATER, Fla. (Interstat) — East Carolina pitcher Ethan Norby tossed 5 2/3 hitless innings of relief and the Pirates edged Texas-San Antonio 1-0 on Sunday afternoon in the American Baseball Championship at Clearwater.

Norby entered in the second inning after the Roadrunners put two runners on base with a walk and a hit batter. He struck out Miller to end the threat and proceeded to retire 15 of the 17 batters he faced, fanning eight and walking two. Norby allowed no hits and no runs, lowering his earned run average to 1.42 over 9 1/3 innings in the tournament after a win against Rice on Friday and a victory at Florida Atlantic on May 15.

East Carolina scratched across the game’s only run in the top of the sixth. With one out, Burress singled to right field and Whitaker singled to center, moving Burress to third. Wallace followed with a single to left field that scored Burress, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Whitaker was later caught in a double play, but the lead held.

The Pirates finished with eight hits. Whitaker and Wallace each had two hits, with Wallace driving in the lone run. East Carolina pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Brett Antolick started and worked 1 2/3 innings, allowing two walks and striking out four. Gavin Marley recorded one out with a strikeout in the eighth, and Charlie Hoagland pitched a perfect ninth with two groundouts and a flyout.

Texas-San Antonio managed four hits and left seven runners on base. Jake Qualia started and allowed three hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout. Mike DeBattista took the loss, giving up one run on five hits over four innings with four strikeouts. Christopher Gutierrez and Sam Simmons combined for 1 2/3 hitless innings.

The Roadrunners threatened in the third when Haworth doubled to left-center and advanced to third on a groundout, but Norby struck out Jacob to end the inning. In the fifth, Miller doubled to left-center, moved to third on a flyout, but Norby struck out Haworth and induced a groundout to shortstop.

The most critical sequence came in the bottom of the seventh. Eshelman singled to right field with one out, but Miller struck out and Detlefsen grounded into a double play to erase the baserunner. Texas-San Antonio never advanced a runner past second base after the fifth inning.

East Carolina improved to 36-22-1, while Texas-San Antonio fell to 38-20-1.

The Pirates defeated Wichita State 13-3 on Saturday prior to falling 4-2 to the Roadrunners in the tournament’s opening game. The win avenged that loss and kept East Carolina alive in the double-elimination bracket.