No. 14 ECU Welcomes UNCW To Greenville Wednesday Night
April 14, 2004 | Baseball
ABOUT THE PIRATES
No. 14 East Carolina looks to add to its nine-game winning streak when the Pirates host in-state rival UNC Wilmington Wednesday for a nonconference contest. The Pirates find themselves ranked in the top 20 of three of the four national collegiate baseball polls and meet UNC Wilmington for the first time this season. The teams' first meeting was rained out in Wilmington. Junior first baseman Ryan Norwood earned Conference USA Co-Hitter of the Week honors after going 8-for-16 (.500) last week in helping the Pirates to a 4-0 week. ECU continued hitting the long ball as the Pirates hit eight home runs in the series with the Bulls. The Pirates have now hit 20 round trippers in the last seven games, led by sophomore Trevor Lawhorn who has a team-high 15. Lawhorn tied the school record with six consecutive games with a home run in Friday's win over the Bulls. Senior Ryan Jones leads the Pirate offense while hitting .416. Of his 42 hits, 27 are extra-base hits including 13 doubles, three triples and 11 homers. Junior right-hander Greg Bunn anchors the Pirate pitching staff. Bunn picked up his sixth win of the season, holding USF to two hits through 8 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .136 against Bunn on the season. Freshman right-hander Mike Flye picked up two saves last week for the Pirates and leads the team with four.
ABOUT THE SEAHAWKS
UNC Wilmington dropped a three-game series, 2-1, to Colonial Athletic Association favorite George Mason last weekend. The Seahawks won the second game of the series 6-5 rallying with four runs in the eighth inning one day after falling 3-2. George Mason took the series finale, 7-3. First baseman Matt Sutton led the Seahawks in the series going 6-for-12. Sutton ranks second on the team in offense while hitting .368 with three homers and seven doubles producing 19 RBI. Jonathan Batts is the leader of the Seahawk offense posting 10 doubles, two homers and 19 RBI in hitting .374. Shortstop Aaron Smith has provided the big punch with a team-high 12 doubles, six home runs and 29 RBI as UNC Wilmington hits .299 as a team. UNCW's pitching staff has compiled a 4.84 ERA allowing 152 earned runs in 282 2/3 innings. Freshman right-hander Zach Booker (0-0, 5.12 ERA) will start Wednesday on the mound for UNC Wilmington.
IN THE POLLS
East Carolina enters this week ranked in the top 20 of three of the four national collegiate polls. The Pirates are 14th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association, 15th by Baseball America, 18th by the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches' Poll and 28th by Collegiate Baseball. The Pirates are also ranked 9th among southeastern schools by SEBaseball.com. ECU stands at 13th in the College RPI index released by boydsworld.com
ECU-UNC WILMINGTON SERIES
ECU leads the all-time series with the Seahawks, 55-49, but UNCW won both meetings last season, 4-3 and 4-3. The Pirates have lost the last three meetings to the Seahawks. East Carolina last defeated UNCW, May 1, 2002, 3-1, in Greenville. The last time ECU won in Wilmington, the Pirates shut out the Seahawks in two games to win the CAA series.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE SEAHAWKS
Pinch-hitter Mitch Williams delivered a two-out RBI double with a runner at second to score the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run in the seventh inning to lift UNC Wilmington over East Carolina, 4-3, in Wilmington last season. Ryan Norwood was the Pirates leading hitter, going 3-for-4 with three singles. In the first meeting of the season in Greenville, two base on balls, an error and a base hit by Chip Grawey in the ninth inning propelled UNC Wilmington to a 4-3 victory over East Carolina at Harrington Field. The Pirates entered the final frame holding a 3-2 advantage.
TREVOR LAWHORN TIES SCHOOL RECORD
Sophomore second baseman Trevor Lawhorn tied Cliff Godwin's record for consecutive home runs in a game. Godwin set the school when he homered in six games from Mar. 18-Mar. 27, 2001. Lawhorn's two-run homer in a 6-4 win over USF in the series opener tied the record. Lawhorn homered in six straight games from Mar. 28-Apr. 9. He hit home runs in all three games of the Charlotte series. Lawhorn's streak ended in the first game of the doubleheader against USF, but he started another one when hit a solo shot in the second game of the doubleheader with the Bulls.
GAME TIME CHANGES
ECU has a couple of time changes to the remainder of the 2004 regular season schedule. This weekend's at Cincinnati will now be played at 3 p.m, 4 p.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. The second game of the Houston series on May. 1, has been moved from 7 p.m. to 1 p.m. ECU's final home series in Kinston, May 14-16, will be played at 4 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.
ECU IN NATIONAL STATISTICAL CATEGORIES
The first set of national statistics were released Tuesday and the Pirates are ranked in three of five team categories. ECU is 5th in win-loss percentage (0.824) behind Texas, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Stanford. ECU's pitching staff is 12th in team ERA (2.99) while the Pirate defense is 15th in fielding percentage (0.974). When the remaining categories are updated in the coming weeks, the Pirates look to be among the top in the nation home runs. ECU enters this week with 58 homers one behind regional leader South Carolina (59).
ECU PLAYERS IN NATIONAL STATISTICAL CATEGORIES
Three Pirate players are ranked among the nation's best is a couple of categories. Senior designated hitter Ryan Jones is 2nd inthe nation in slugging percentage (.931) while teammate Trevor Lawhorn (.760) is 18th. Lawhorn is 3rd in home runs per game (0.47) after hitting 15 already this season while Jones is 13th (0.38) after hitting a career-high 11 home runs. Jones ranks 40th in batting average (.416). ECU's ace of the pitching staff, Greg Bunn is 24th in victories at a perfect 6-0 on the season.
MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Some ECU players have moved into the Top 10 in several Pirate records. Trevor Lawhorm is now tied for the 10th in home runs in a single season (22) and needs eight to set a new ECU record. Darryl Lawhorn has now moved into ninth place with 214 career hits and 145 RBI, third place in career home runs (40). Freshman Mike Flye has already moved into a tie for eighth place in single-season saves (4).
UP NEXT
East Carolina heads to Cincinnati for a three-game Conference USA series this weekend.
