East Carolina Baseball Notebook (Weekly Recap)
March 19, 2012 | Baseball
March 19, 2012
East Carolina Pirates (14-4)
Last Week's National Rankings: No. 25 (Perfect Game);
Receiving Votes (USA Today/Coaches and NCBWA)
Current Streak: W-3
Last Week: 3-1
Mar. 13 - Loss vs. VCU, 18-11
Mar. 16 - Win vs. Penn State, 5-4
Mar. 17 - Win vs. Penn State, 6-5 in 10 innings
Mar. 18 - Win vs. Penn State, 7-4
Upcoming Week
Home vs. No. 23 N.C. State (Mar. 20)
Road vs. High Point (Mar. 21)
Road vs. No. 19 UCF (Mar. 23-25)
Pirate Hitter-of-the-Week
John Wooten, Junior, 1B
Wooten helped led the Pirates to a 3-1 week including its fourth weekend series sweep of the season after batting .389 (7-for-18) with home run, six runs scored and two multi-hit games ... Against VCU he was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and recorded his third multi-hit game of the season ... He followed that with a season-best 3-for-4 performance in Friday night's game against Penn State, where he scored another two runs ... In ECU's dramatic come from behind victory against the Nittany Lions on Saturday, Wooten (1-for-4) belted his third home run of the season, a solo blast in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to send the game into extra innings ... In the series finale, he extended his hit streak to five games with an infield bunt single during ECU's four-run seventh and scored the game-winning run during Tim Younger's bases loaded walk ... On the week he led the Pirates in hits (seven) and runs (six), while tying for the team lead in home runs (one) and multi-hit games (two) ... During his five-game hit streak he is batting .348 (8-for-23) and has scored seven runs (at least one in each game) ... On the season he is batting .281 (18-for-64) with three home runs, seven RBI, 15 runs (team-best) and one triple ... He has also recorded four multi-hit and one multi-RBI game.
Pirate Pitcher-of-the-Week
Jharel Cotton, Junior, RHP
Cotton was the lone starter on the weekend to pick up a win against Penn State clinching the series sweep Sunday afternoon ... The right-hander worked a season-high seven innings (third quality start) allowing four runs (one earned) on seventh hits with four strikeouts and a walk ... Three of his four strikeouts were looking and he recorded eight fly ball and nine ground outs in his outing ... The win improved his record to a team-best 4-0 and dropped his ERA to 2.22 in five outings ... This season he has allowed 11 runs (seven earned) on 25 hits with 19 strikeouts and eight walks in 28.1 innings.
PIRATE NOTES
? ECU's pitching staff posted a 6.32 ERA allowing 32 runs (26 earned) on 17 walks on its 3-1 week at Clark-LeClair Stadium ... On the season as a whole, they sport a Conference USA best 2.94 ERA in 162.0 innings with 127 strikeouts to 57 walks ... In 18 games, ECU has allowed 67 runs (53 earned) and are holding opposing hitters to a composite .230 batting average ... The bullpen has allowed 23 runs (18 earned) on 45 hits in 61.1 innings with a 2.64 ERA.
? Sophomore Tanner Merritt recorded his second win of the season on Saturday against Penn State where he worked two-thirds of an inning recording a pair of strikeouts and allowing one hit ... After entering the game with one out in the 10th, Merritt allowed a single to Jordan Steranka before fanning Steve Snyder (looking) and Taylor Skerpon (swinging) ... Earlier in the week he had a rough outing allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits against VCU without recording an out ... On the season he sports a 1.69 ERA in 10 appearances where he has allowed four runs (two earned) on 11 hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks in 10.2 innings ... Currently he ranks second on the team with three saves.
? Sophomore Drew Reynolds recorded his first collegiate win and registered his team and C-USA leading sixth save of the season against Penn State ... In the series opener he worked 1.2 innings where he allowed the game-tying run in the ninth on a wild pitch and blowing his first save of the year. But the right-hander rebounded on Sunday working a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout for his sixth save of the season ... At the plate, Reynolds batted .333 (5-for-15) with two doubles, two RBI and a run scored ... He recorded at least one hit in all four games and extended his current hitting streak to a career-best seven games ... During his current hitting streak, Reynolds is batting .500 (13-for-26) a home run, three RBI, three runs, three doubles, two walks and has four multi-hit games.
? True freshman Jeff Hoffman had another solid outing over the weekend working 1.1 scoreless innings of relief in Friday night's game where he recorded a pair of strikeouts and allowed a walk ... In his outing before Friday, he tossed four perfect innings and recorded his first career save against No. 20 Louisville at the 2012 DRASH Alabama Baseball Classic ... The right-hander from Latham, N.Y. entered the Louisville game in the sixth inning trying to preserve the win for ECU and shutdown the Cardinals offense recording one strikeout and throwing 38 pitches over the four frames ... This year he boasts a 0.00 ERA in five appearances working 8.2 innings where he has allowed one run (unearned) on three hits with a four punch outs.
? Junior Tyler Joyner worked a career-best eight innings against Penn State (Mar. 17) where he allowed four runs (all earned) on seven hits with two walks and tied his career-high with seven strikeouts ... The left-hander retired the first seven batters he faced before issuing a walk in the third frame ... To go along with his seven punch outs (six swinging), he recorded seven fly ball outs and nine ground outs ... In five outings, he sports a 1.97 ERA (seventh in C-USA) with 23 strikeouts to seven walks and has allowed seven runs (all earned) on 23 hits in 32.0 innings ... Opposing hitters are batting .204 against him, which ranks fifth in C-USA.
? Junior Jay Cannon extended his current hitting streak to eight games after batting .375 (6-for-16) with a home run, two RBI, four runs and two multi-hit games on the week ... Against VCU he was 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored ... In the series opener against Penn State his third homer of the season was a walk-off in the ninth inning giving ECU a 5-4 win ... On Saturday he was 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the third and Sunday he closed out the week going 1-for-4 with a run scored ... This season he is batting .333 (17-for-51) with three home runs, eight RBI, 13 runs scored, three doubles and four multi-hit games.
? Zach Wright drove in a team-high six runs and has 10 in his last six games ... Against VCU he belted his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, during the Pirates five-run first inning and drove in his third run of the game in the third inning on a ground out ... Wright continued his RBI streak (four games) in the opener against Penn State going 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run ... His single up the middle in the second inning drove in Wooten and he later scored in the frame on a Nittany Lion error ... In the series finale, he drove in the Pirates last run of the game with a double to left field that scored Corey Thompson ... During his senior season, he is batting .238 (15-for-63) with a home run, four doubles, 12 RBI and nine runs scored.
? Senior Corey Thompson batted .353 (6-for-17) on the week with a home run, five RBI, five runs and recorded a hit in all four contests ... Against VCU his lone hit of the day came during ECU's five-run first inning where he singled up the middle scoring Jack Reinheimer and later would score on Reynolds ground out ... Thompson singled and scored in the third inning against Penn State in the series opener ... On Saturday he recorded a pair of hits and drove in three runs on his third home run of the season sending a shot off the top of the wall in left center with two outs to help the Pirates rally from a four-run deficit in the ninth frame ... He followed that outing with another two-hit game in the series finale driving in a run and scoring twice ... Currently he leads the team and ranks fifth in C-USA with a .377 average (23-for-61) ... He leads the team in hits (23), RBI (16) and total bases (36), while sharing the team lead in doubles (four) and home runs (3), while ranking second in runs scored (14).
? Philip Clark batted a team-best .455 (5-for-11) on the week with a RBI and one run in four games (three starts) ... Clark, who is in the midst of a season-high seven game hit streak, had the game-winning single against Penn State in the 10th inning that scored Wright ... The junior outfielder pinch hit in the 10th frame sending a high chopper to second base where Luis Montesinos had to make a quick throw, which sailed over the first baseman's head allowing Wright to score the game winning run ... This season he is batting .333 (19-for-57) with a double, triple, seven RBI and four runs scored.
? Head Coach Billy Godwin recorded his 493rd career and 231st Pirate win on Sunday against Penn State ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list and trails only ECU Hall of Famer Gary Overton (427).
