Gameday: No. 25 ECU Hosts No. 9 UNC
March 22, 2017 | Baseball
| No. 9 North Carolina at No. 25 East Carolina (Game 22) | |
| Date | March 22, 2017 |
| Time | 6:30 p.m. (ET) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 1070 AM Watch Live (Wednesday) TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: Wednesday |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | North Carolina |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | North Carolina (PDF) l The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Statistics | East Carolina | North Carolina | The American |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media | @ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) | The American #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball | #AmericanRising |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 25 East Carolina (14-7) will play host to No 9 North Carolina (15-5) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium Wednesday night with a 6:30 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch. The Pirates are coming off an 11-7 road win at Elon on Tuesday.
MUSTACHE MARCH
• The entire team, including the coaching staff and support staff, will participate in Mustache March in order to raise awareness and money for the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter. Mustache March will create a fun and entertaining environment for Pirate fans throughout the month of March, which will also help towards ALS research. Please join our efforts of Striking Out ALS by donating to our event. All money raised throughout the season will go straight to the ALS Association, and more specifically the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter. During the 14th-Annual Keith LeClair Classic (March 3-5) members of the local ALS Chapter will be on hand to receive donations. Also, please follow our status through various social media outlets (@ECUBaseball, and many more), as well as on the field. Go Pirates! ... For more information about Mustache March, please click on this link.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEEKEND
• East Carolina and North Carolina will meet for the 77th time on the diamond ... UNC holds a 49-27 lead in the all-time series having won the last two games in the series, which came in 2016.
• ECU enters the weekend ranked in the Top-25 in a pair of polls (19/Perfect Game and No. 25/Baseball America), while receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and USA Today/Coaches Poll.
• The Pirates, who are in their 82nd season of intercollegiate baseball, won the 1961 NAIA National Championship, have claimed 24 conference titles (13 regular season/11 tournament), made 28 NCAA Regionals and advanced to four Super Regionals (2001, 2004, 2009 and 2016).
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to game)
• Last year Godwin guided the Pirates to their second consecutive NCAA Regional (No. 3 seed in Charlottesville) and a Super Regional appearance (Lubbock, Texas). ECU, who posted a 38-23-1 record and finished second in The American (15-8-1), rolled through regional play picking up wins against No. 20 Bryant (9-1), No. 10 Virginia (8-6) and William & Mary (8-4) en route to claiming the Charlottesville crown – its fourth regional title. The Pirates continued their magical run, defeating No. 5 national seed Texas Tech, 8-6, in the opener of the Super Regional and came 90 feet away from making their first appearance in the Men's College World Series in game two of the series.
• Spencer Brickhouse leads the club in average (.355), HRs (6) and runs (20), while sharing second in hits (27), and RBI (15) ... Hit three home runs in two-game set at CofC including his first multi-HR game on Mar. 8 (consecutive at-bats) ... Belted first home run in first collegiate game at Ole Miss (2/17) ... He started all 20 games (17/1B, 3/DH) ... Two game-winning RBI (ASU, CofC).
• Travis Watkins leads team with 28 hits while batting a club third-best .341 ... Currently owns a six-game hitting streak heading into this week's action ... Belted second home run of the season (13th career) hitting his third career grand slam against Charlotte in game one of the doubleheader (3/11) ... The five-time Johnny Bench Award Watch List candidate (2013-17) has thrown out 4 of 9 would-be base stealers on the season ... Two-time team captain and two time Bench Award semifinalist (2015-16).
• Charlie Yorgen extended his consecutive start streak to 187 games (started in 2014) at Duke ... Belted first homer of the year (6th career) with his 3-run shot in the 10th inning giving ECU a 10-7 walk-off win against Charlotte in game one of the doubleheader (3/11) ... Team second-best .346 average.
• Bryant Packard hit first collegiate home run (solo) against Charlotte (G1) ... Tallied three multi-hit games on the year.
• Luke Bolka is tied for third on the team with two HRs, while driving in 14 (4th) ... Tallied a three game-winning RBI ... Blasted his second homer of the season hitting a grand slam in the second game of the La Salle series.
• Joe Ingle has worked 11.0 innings out of the bullpen allowing eight runs (seven earned) with 16 Ks ... Owns a 3-1 record ... Named a 2017 Second-Team Preseason All-American by NCBWA ... Unanimous preseason All-AAC selection ... Three-time Stopper-of-the-Year candidate (2015-17) ... Notched 20 career saves (4th all-time at ECU) ... Sports a 10-4 record in 71 games with a 3.12 ERA.
• Dusty Baker enters this week's action batting .393 with nine runs scored ... He has started seven-straight games in centerfield where he has registered 20 putouts and one assist for a 1.000 fielding percentage ... Collected first career-RBI at Duke on an infield bunt single.
• Eric Tyler enters the Elon contest on a six-game hitting streak ... Currently he is batting .333 with two home runs, 11 RBI and 12 runs scored ... He is tied for third on the club with 27 hits.
• ECU's starting pitching sports a 3.66 ERA ... Allowed 43 runs (37 earned) with 87 Ks to 31 BBs in 91.0 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .249 clip ...The bullpen has surrendered 48 runs (42 earned) with 97 Ks to 42 BBs in 87.0 innings for a 4.34 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .238 ... Allowed 14 of 47 inherited runners to score (29.8 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Wednesday: RHP Tyler Baum (3-0, 1.15 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Wolfe (2-1, 5.61 ERA)
CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH
6:20 p.m. - Centurylink
GODWIN AT A GLANCE
• Cliff Godwin, who was named the 16th head coach in school history on June 25, 2014, was a four-year letterwinner for the Pirates from 1998-2001 … He has been a part of nine NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach …During his two years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths, a Super Regional appearance, an American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a 92-52-1 (.638) overall record … Three players have earned All-America honors, five were named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team, six took home all-conference honors (five first-teamers), seven were selected as American Player-of-the-Week, while a pair were drafted by Major League Baseball teams … Named 2015 AAC Coach-of-the-Year and was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in January of 2016 … As a player, he helped former ECU skipper Keith LeClair's teams post a 169-76 four-year ledger, including 46-plus wins in each of his final three seasons (16-16 in '99, 46-18 in '00 and 47-13 in '01) … ECU won a pair of CAA Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Regionals every season from 1999 to 2001 … The Pirates were the top seed in their regional all three years, including a No. 7 national seed in 2001 where they advanced to the Super Regional round before being eliminated by Tennessee.
