East Carolina Professional Athletes

The Pirate in the Middle of It All

There are postseason arms, and then there are postseason arms willing to pitch twice in three days with a season on the line. Gavin Williams is the latter.

The East Carolina product has been the most visible Guardians pitcher of the 2026 ALDS — and perhaps the most important arm in Cleveland's bullpen — entering Saturday's winner-take-all Game 5 showdown against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field.

A Series Full of Tough Luck

Williams' ALDS story started with a performance that deserved better. In Game 2 on Oct. 5, the right-hander was nothing short of dominant: five innings, 11 strikeouts, just two earned runs. It wasn't enough. The White Sox rallied past Cleveland's bullpen for a 4-3 win, extending their postseason record to 4-0 and pushing the Guardians to the brink. Manager Stephen Vogt had nothing but praise for his starter, and teammates were openly raving — but the offense, one of baseball's weakest in terms of slugging this season, went cold at the worst possible moment.

The Guardians clawed back in Games 3 and 4, setting the stage for the series finale Williams will now headline.

From the Bullpen to the Rotation — in 48 Hours

The setup for Game 5 is where things get genuinely unusual. With closer Cade Smith running out of gas in the ninth inning of Game 4 — a 9-5 Guardians win in Chicago on Oct. 9 — Cleveland turned to Williams in relief to lock down the victory. He threw one inning, struck out one, and got the job done.

Then came the announcement: Williams would start Game 5, just two days later.

According to CBS Sports, that makes Williams part of extremely rare playoff company — pitchers who appeared in relief and then started a decisive game in the same series. Cleveland confirmed Williams' availability despite the quick turnaround, citing the off-day Friday as a meaningful factor in the decision. Heavy Sports noted the pitching calculus would define the entire game, with the White Sox opting for a more traditional approach on their side.

Williams enters Game 5 with a 3.00 ERA for the series.

Armstrong's Quiet Contribution

Fellow ECU alum Shawn Armstrong has also been a fixture in Cleveland's bullpen throughout this run. The veteran reliever logged 1.2 innings with two strikeouts in Game 4's win, adding to appearances in Games 2 and 3 — 0.2 innings and 1.1 innings respectively. Armstrong hasn't been the headliner, but his workload reflects how heavily the Guardians have leaned on every available arm in what has become an all-hands-on-deck postseason push.

The Bigger Picture

Also worth noting for ECU faithful: first baseman Alec Burleson capped a remarkable regular season with the Cardinals, leading all of Major League Baseball with 116 RBI — a number that would have turned heads in any context. St. Louis finished 77-85 and missed the playoffs, but Burleson's individual breakout was the brightest storyline in a Cardinals season that underperformed expectations.

For now, though, the Greenville pipeline runs through Cleveland. Williams takes the ball Saturday night in a game that could send the Guardians to the ALCS — or send them home. For an ECU program that has quietly built one of the better pro pipelines in college baseball, it doesn't get much bigger than this.

Two East Carolina alumni headlined the final week of the 2026 MLB regular season in wildly different ways — one hammering his way into contract talks, the other pitching Cleveland into the playoffs before disappearing from the celebration entirely.

Burleson Makes His Case, One Homer at a Time

Alec Burleson is making the Cardinals' extension decision impossible to ignore. The 27-year-old first baseman went yard in three consecutive games this week — Thursday against Pittsburgh, Friday against Milwaukee, and Saturday against Milwaukee again — finishing the stretch 3-for-8 with three home runs, five RBI, and a batting average hovering around .279–.280. For a Cardinals team that was eliminated from playoff contention and playing out the string, Burleson was the whole storyline.

The timing of his surge isn't accidental. Burleson told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he's "all ears" if St. Louis wants to approach him about a contract extension this offseason — candid language that signals genuine interest without forcing the organization's hand. He has two years of club control remaining, which gives the Cardinals some runway, but the buzz around his career-best 2026 numbers and the possibility of outside trade interest has accelerated the conversation. Per Sports Illustrated, the Cardinals would be foolish to even entertain moving him.

The broader context matters: St. Louis is in the middle of a rebuild, and Burleson has emerged as one of its few unambiguous success stories — alongside JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker. Locking him up long-term would be a signal that the next competitive window is taking shape.

Williams Pitches Cleveland In, Then Goes Missing

Gavin Williams spent September building the kind of résumé that makes postseason managers lick their chops. On Sept. 20, he dominated the Athletics for seven innings, striking out nine and surrendering zero runs in a 1-0 Guardians win — a performance described by multiple outlets as Williams flashing postseason form. His ERA sat at a sharp 3.63 after that outing.

He was brilliant again in spirit when Cleveland clinched a playoff berth — but conspicuously absent in person. When the Guardians secured their postseason spot with a win on Thursday night at Fenway Park over the Boston Red Sox, Williams wasn't on the field for the celebration. The team has not offered a public explanation for his absence, and the mystery only deepened the intrigue around one of ECU's most important arms heading into October.

Williams did take the ball in Cleveland's 12-9 win over Kansas City on Friday, Sept. 25, going 3.1 innings and allowing four earned runs — a rough outing by his standards but unlikely to shake his postseason standing given what preceded it.

Also back in the Cleveland mix: Shawn Armstrong, reinstated from the 60-day IL this week and logging back-to-back appearances against Kansas City, including a clean inning on Saturday.

Elsewhere in the League

Jeff Hoffman quietly made American League history as part of the Twins' bullpen — becoming the 15th different Minnesota pitcher to record a save this season, a new AL record. The ECU righty tossed a scoreless inning to close out a win over the Giants on Tuesday, Sept. 23, cementing his place in a piece of trivia that will outlast the season.

Connor Norby went 2-for-2 with a run scored against Seattle on Sunday, Sept. 20, and added a 2-hit game Thursday against Arizona, keeping his average in the low-.240s for Colorado's lost season.

East Carolina's MLB alumni gave Pirates fans — and the broader college baseball world — plenty to track during the penultimate stretch of the 2026 season. Two storylines dominated: Alec Burleson carrying the Cardinals' offense on his back, and Gavin Williams surviving a brutal sequence in Cleveland's rotation.

Burleson Delivers When It Counts

The Cardinals first baseman was St. Louis's offensive engine from Sept. 13–19, producing runs in almost every series the team played. It started Sunday, Sept. 13, when Burleson launched a three-run double against the White Sox in a 3–1 Cardinals win — the RBI that did most of the heavy lifting. He kept it rolling Monday against the Giants with two hits, an RBI, and a walk in a tightly contested 2–1 victory, with his hit contributing directly to a fifth-inning rally that won the game.

Tuesday brought even more. Despite the Cardinals ultimately falling to San Francisco 10–3, Burleson went deep — a home run that at least gave St. Louis something to feel good about amid a rough night in which starter Andre Pallante was shelled. Burleson added another hit Wednesday in the series finale.

By the end of the week, Burleson was hitting .284 and had been one of the few Cardinals regulars producing consistently through a stretch in which the team's pitching wobbled. For an ECU program that has developed a reputation for producing professional hitters, Burleson's late-season surge is a fitting showcase.

Williams Grinds Through a Brutal Night

Gavin Williams's week told a different story. The Guardians right-hander took the ball in what Cleveland needed to be a crucial series opener against the White Sox on Monday, Sept. 14, and while he struck out seven in five innings of work, it came at a cost. A high pitch count, extended at-bats, and sticky situations forced him off the mound earlier than Cleveland would have liked.

The most striking moment came courtesy of White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters, who fouled off pitch after pitch against Williams in an 18-pitch at-bat that ended in a walk — one of those exhausting, momentum-sapping sequences that can unravel a start. The Guardians ultimately lost 7–3. Williams was charged with two earned runs, and his ERA settled at 3.78 — still a mark that reflects a solid overall season, even if this particular outing left Cleveland's bullpen exposed.

For a Guardians team fighting to hold its postseason positioning, Williams's early exit was a setback. For Williams personally, the outing served as a reminder of how razor-thin the margins are in October-caliber competition.

Around the System

Connor Norby had a productive week at the plate for Colorado, going 4-for-9 with four RBI across two games against San Diego and posting a hit and a run in the series opener against Seattle. Jeff Hoffman continued his steady work out of Minnesota's bullpen, striking out three hitters across two appearances. Zach Agnos logged five innings of work for the Rockies over two outings, though he allowed four earned runs total as Colorado's season winds down without playoff stakes to sharpen the focus.

ECU's MLB footprint remains one of the most expansive of any mid-major program in the country — and this week's slate was a reminder of why.