East Carolina’s baseball season is quickly approaching its conclusion, and the team’s bats seem to be cooling off as the Pirates head into the home stretch. With Jeff Hoffman slated to miss his next two starts due to shoulder soreness, the Pirates will need to make a bigger impact at the plate.

ECU has four Conference USA series left with match ups against in-state rivals North Carolina and High Point thrown in. After that, the Pirates hit the road for Hattiesburg, Miss. for the conference championship.

Over a month ago, ECU found the spark was looking for to ignite the offense. Ian Townsend, Bryce Harman and Ben Fultz combined for four home runs in the second inning of Game 2 of ECU’s March 15 doubleheader versus Tulane. In 10 of the 24 games since then, ECU’s offense has posted at five or more runs.

However, over the last five games, the Pirates have only scored 13 runs — including two one-run showings. Their offensive production is beginning to mirror earlier parts of the season, with the outcome depending directly on the performance of the pitching staff.

That’s not to say it hasn’t resulted in success. This past weekend, Jeff Hoffman turned in a 16-strikeout performance en route to a 1-0 win in the first of a three-game series versus Middle Tennessee State. Ryan Williams also recorded his fifth save in that series and picked up his nation-leading 10th win versus North Carolina on Tuesday.

ECU can’t continue to rely so heavily on its pitchers. Hoffman’s injury will put more pressure on the Pirates to score. The bullpen will remain strong, but Hoffman’s absence will significantly deplete the starting pitching rotation.

Fortunately, the Pirates are healing in other positions. Shortstop Hunter Allen made his return for Tuesday’s win over UNC, notching two hits in four trips to the plate. He also had a pair of putouts and three assists in the field.

Freshman Kirk Morgan filled in at shortstop while Allen was out. Prior to the season’s start, head coach Billy Godwin wasn’t sure whether Allen or Morgan would be the starting shortstop. Since then, Allen has proven to be an upgrade from Morgan both in the field and at the plate. Allen’s fielding is .990 compared to Morgan’s .898. Morgan is also tied with team-high 10 errors this season, while Allen has only committed one.

Allen has also proven he’s an upgrade at the plate, so he’ll be able to help take pressure off the starting pitchers. With one fewer at-bat than Morgan, Allen’s batting average is .096 higher than his freshman counterpart.

Outfielder Ben Fultz seems to be recovering nicely, too. Fultz made an appearance as a pinch runner versus UNC and scored one of ECU’s three runs. The Pirates are anxiously awaiting his return, as he ranked second on the team with 21 RBI prior to his injury.

The Pirates’ schedule gives them time to heat up at the plate again. The team is in Boca Raton this weekend for a series against Florida Atlantic, which is ranked 10th in the conference. They’ll also host the league’s seventh-place team, Florida International, next week with a road game versus UNC sandwiched between both series.