Paint this one purple! @ecuathletics wins baseball championship 9-1 over Houston A photo posted by American Athletic Conference (@american_conf) on May 24, 2015 at 12:03pm PDT

East Carolina Baseball = Conference CHAMPS. Here's a look back at a great day for the Purple & Gold. 2015 American Champions! Posted by American Athletic Conference on Sunday, May 24, 2015

The Pirates are Champions!ECUAthletics wins 9-1 over Houston Posted by American Athletic Conference on Sunday, May 24, 2015

Tournament Most Outstanding Player Hunter Allen went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and pitcher Nick Durazo worked five innings of one-hit shutout relief as No. 2-seeded East Carolina was a 9-1 winner against top-seeded Houston Sunday to win the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at Bright House Field.The Pirates, who went 4-0 in the six-day, eight-team tournament, earn The American’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. It is East Carolina’s first conference tournament title since the Pirates won the 2002 Conference USA crown.Lance Bolka hit a two-run home run for East Carolina (40-20), which scored eight of its nine runs with two outs. Leftfielder Luke Lowery went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, while centerfielder Reid Love was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.Bolka, the Pirates’ No. 9 hitter who had just 24 at bats and one RBI on the season prior to the game, gave East Carolina a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning when he sent a line drive over the leftfield fence for a two-run home run. That ignited a five-run fifth inning that effectively put the game away as Lowery’s bases-loaded single gave the Pirates a 6-1 cushion.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.The Pirates had struck first when Charlie Yorgen was hit by a pitch and took second on Reid Love’s base hit to leftfield. The runners moved up on a double steal and Yorgen came home on Eric Tyler’s grounder to second to give East Carolina a 1-0 lead.Houston tied it in the bottom of the second inning when Corey Julks reached on a leadoff hit to center, moved to second on a walk, was bunted to third and scored on Justin Montemayor’s sacrifice fly to left.East Carolina’s five-run fifth pushed the lead to 6-1, and the Pirates added three more in the top of the ninth as Lowery’s two-run single to left capped the scoring.Allen was chosen as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after he went 9-for-18 with a double, triple and six runs scored. He joined Lowery, Love and pitcher Joe Ingle as the Pirates’ representatives on the all-tournament team.Houston, which saw an eight-game winning streak snapped, fell to 42-18 on the year. Rightfielder Kyle Survance went 2-for-4 and was the only Cougar player with multiple hits. Houston had shortstop Connor Wong, catcher Ian Rice, outfielder Corey Julks and pitcher Andrew Lantrip on the all-tournament team.The other all-tournament selections were infielder Vinny Siena and designated hitter Joe DeRoche-Duffin of UConn and infielder Brandon Montgomery and outfielder Darien Tubbs of Memphis.NCAA Championship selections will be announced Monday, while the hosts of the 16 regional sites will be announced later Sunday. The American enters the NCAA Championship as the No. 3-rated conference in terms of RPI.Game 1 – No. 4 USF 10, No. 5 Memphis 6Game 2 – No. 1 Houston 8, No. 8 Cincinnati 4Game 3 – No. 2 East Carolina 4, No. 7 UCF 3Game 4 – No. 3 Tulane 3, No. 6 UConn 1Game 5 – Memphis 14, Cincinnati 9 (Cincinnati eliminated)Game 6 – UConn 4, UCF 3 (11 innings) (UCF eliminated)Game 7 – Houston 7, USF 3Game 8 – East Carolina 3, Tulane 1Game 9 – Memphis 4, USF 1 (USF eliminated)Game 10 – UConn 7, Tulane 6 (Tulane eliminated)Game 11 – Houston 17, Memphis 3 (8 innings) (Memphis eliminated)Game 12 – East Carolina 4, UConn 2 (UConn eliminated)Game 15 – East Carolina 9, Houston 1P Joe Ingle, East CarolinaP Andrew Lantrip, HoustonIF Vinny Siena, UConnIF Hunter Allen, East CarolinaIF Connor Wong, HoustonIF Brandon Montgomery, MemphisOF Luke Lowery, East CarolinaOF Corey Julks, HoustonOF Darien Tubbs, MemphisC Ian Rice, HoustonUTY Reid Love, East CarolinaDH Joe DeRoche-Duffin, UConnHunter Allen, SS, East Carolina