East Carolina Baseball Notebook (Weekly Recap)
April 24, 2012 | Baseball
April 24, 2012
East Carolina Pirates (27-13-1, 9-5-1 C-USA)
Last Week's National Rankings: No. 24 (Perfect Game); No. 29 (NCBWA)
Receiving Votes: USA Today/ Coaches poll
Current Streak: W-1
Last Week: 2-3
Apr. 17 - Loss vs. UNC Wilmington, 10-1
Apr. 18 - Win vs. William & Mary, 10-4
Apr. 20 - Loss at No. 7 Rice, 2-0
Apr. 21 - Loss at No. 7 Rice, 6-2/10 innings
Apr. 22 - Win at No. 7 Rice, 4-3
Upcoming Week
Road at No. 10 North Carolina (Apr. 25) Home vs. Tulane (Apr. 27-29)
Pirate Hitter-of-the-Week
Drew Reynolds, Sophomore, DH/RHP
Reynolds batted a team-best .391 (9-for-23) during ECU's 2-3 week ... The sophomore DH recorded three multi-hit games and collected at least one hit in four of five games ... All nine of his base hits were singles on the week ... Against instate foe UNC Wilmington, he was 3-for-5 and followed that with another three-hit performance against William & Mary, where he drove in a pair of runs and scored once ... After going 0-for-4 at the plate in the series opener against Rice, he rebounded with a 2-for-5 performance on Saturday ... He reached base four times (two singles, two fielder's choices) and scored the Pirates first run of the day in the first frame on John Wooten's double to center ... Reynolds closed out the week going 1-for-4 in ECU's 4-3 win on Sunday ... He also made two appearances on the mound tossing two innings where he allowed one run (earned) on two hits with one strikeout ... Against Rice, he notched his team and league leading eighth save working a scoreless ninth with one strikeout and forced Derek Hamilton into a game-ending double play ... On the season he leads the team with a.353 average (47-for-133), while ranking second in hits ... He has added two home runs and six doubles to go along with 17 RBI and 18 runs scored ... On the bump he owns a 3-0 record with eight saves and a 2.89 ERA ... Reynolds has allowed 10 runs (five earned) on 16 hits with 16 strikeouts and just five walks in 18.2 innings ... He has held opposing hitters to a composite .235 average.
Pirate Pitcher-of-the-Week
Jharel Cotton, Junior, RHP
Cotton picked up his league leading seventh win at No. 7 Rice (Apr. 22) in ECU's 4-3 victory ... The junior worked 6.1 solid frames allowing two runs (both earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts ... He retired 11 of his last 15 batters (3rd to 7th inning) before passing the ball off to left-hander Jake Harris ... It was Cotton's fifth quality start of the season (6-plus IP/3 or less runs) and also improved him to 3-0 in league play ... On the season he has worked 54.2 innings allowing 24 runs (20 earned) on 61 hits with 43 strikeouts to just 13 walks for a 3.29 ERA.
PIRATE NOTES
The Pirates suffered their second Conference USA series loss over the weekend at No. 7 Rice and fell to 9-5-1 in league play, which still ranks third behind UCF (12-3) and Rice (11-4) ... This season, the Pirates have won three league series (UAB, Houston and Memphis) and seven series overall (Milwaukee, Stony Brook, Alabama Tournament, Penn State and UAB - all sweeps).
ECU's pitching staff posted a 4.79 ERA on the week allowing 25 runs (23 earned) on 52 hits with 31 strikeouts ... On the season as a whole, they sports a 3.17 ERA, which ranks third in C-USA and 37th nationally ... In 41 games, ECU has allowed 169 runs (131 earned) with 277 strikeouts, 110 walks and are holding opposing hitters to a composite .253 average ... The bullpen has allowed 67 runs (44 earned) on 127 hits in 147.0 innings with a 2.29 ERA.
Junior John Wooten ranked second on the team with five hits, while sharing the team lead in runs (3) and RBI (2) ... He also poked a pair of doubles on the week to lead the Pirates ... Four of his five hits game in the last two games at No. 7 Rice ... On Saturday he was 2-for-5 with an RBI double in the first inning ... He later added a single in the eighth, where he came around to score on Philip Clark's single ... In the series finale, he reached base three times (2 singles, FC) with an RBI and one run scored ... In the fourth frame he singled to left field scoring Corey Thompson during the Pirates' three-run frame ... He followed that with an RBI base hits through the right side that scored Tim Younger ... This season he ranks third on the team with a .323 average (51-for-158) and leads the team in home runs (7), hits (51), runs (34) and total bases (79) ... In league play he is batting .410, which ranks second behind Rice's Christian Stringer (.424).
Senior Kevin Brandt suffered his third loss of the season and second when tossing a complete game against No. 7 Rice ... The southpaw allowed two runs (both earned) on six hits with one strikeout and a pair of walks ... Of the six hits allowed, Brandt allowed just one extra base hit - a solo home run by Jeremy Rathjen in the sixth inning ... Brandt recorded his ninth quality start in 10 games this season to lead the club ... After giving up a pair of runs in the first frame on two hits, he settled down retiring 20 of his final 27 batters and allowed just two runners after the first to reach second base ... On the season he owns a 5-3 record with a 1.96 ERA, which ranks third in C-USA (all games) and 41st nationally ... Brandt also ranks among the league leaders in innings pitched (1st/69.0), pickoffs (t-1st/4), wins (t-5th/5), earned runs (6th/15), runs allowed (t-8th/21), opposing batting average (7th/.232) and strikeouts (t-10th/44).
Relief pitcher Andy Smithmyer tossed a career-best six innings with a career-best eight strikeouts against William & Mary and improved to 3-2 on the season ... The right-hander tossed six scoreless frames allowing just four hits (3 singles, double) and faced no more than four batters in an inning ... On the season he owns a team-best 1.49 ERA with 37 strikeouts to 12 walks ... He has appeared in 14 games working 36/1 innings where he has allowed 14 runs (six earned) on 32 hits.
Head Coach Billy Godwin recorded his 500th career win in the series opener against Houston on April 5 in ECU's 10-3 victory ... For his career, Godwin owns a 506-236-1 record ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list (244) and trails only ECU Hall of Famer Gary Overton (427).
