Game Day Central: ECU Hosts 12th Annual Keith LeClair Classic
February 20, 2015 | Baseball
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| East Carolina vs. St. John's Feb. 22, 2015 | 2:30 PM (EST) Greenville, N.C. RADIO: WNCT 1070 AM |
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KEITH LeCLAIR CLASSIC
? East Carolina will play host to the 12th Annual Keith LeClair Classic this weekend when it welcomes in Liberty, St. John's and UNC Greensboro ... The Pirates own a 26-7 all-time record in the annual event and has claimed the outright title six times (2004, 2007-08, 2010, 2013-14) and shared the title in 2006 with NC State and West Virginia ... ECU will take on UNCG (Sat. at 12 Noon) and Liberty (Sun. at 3:30 p.m.) before wrapping up with St. John's (Sun. at 6 p.m.) ...All games times are approximate as each game will start 45 minutes at the conclusion of the previous day's contest.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEEKEND
? The Pirates will look to snap a three-game losing streak on the season (and five-straight dating back to 2014) when they open the LeClair Classic Saturday afternoon in game one against the Spartans ... During the opening weekend of the season, ECU dropped all three games to No. 2 Virginia (3-1, 9-2, 4-2) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium ... Against teams in the 2015 LeClair Classic, ECU holds the series edge against Liberty (6-3) and St. John's (7-4), while UNCG owns the series against ECU, 8-6 all-time.
? UNCG comes into the weekend with a 1-1 record picking up an Opening Day win against High Point, 12-8, before dropping game two of the series 12-2 ... Link Jarrett, former ECU assistant coach and hitting instructor from 2006-09, is in his third year as the Spartans skipper ... The Spartans return 20 letterwinners including 2014 all-conference selections Eric Kalbfleisch, Hunter King, Jordan McDonald, and Adam Swim ... UNCG finished ninth in the league standings with a 8-16 conference ledger and 21-28 overall record ... This year, the Spartans were picked to finish fourth in the standings by the leagues coaches, while junior Ryan Clark (RHP) was tabbed as the SoCon Preseason Pitcher-of-the-Year ... Outfielders Zac MacAneney and Kalbfleisch were preseason first-team selections, while King was a second-team honoree.
? Liberty, who is ranked in three national polls entering weekend play, is 2-1 on the young season dropping an 11-9 decision at No. 19 Kennesaw State before rebounding to take both games of a doubleheader at Georgia State (11-7/11 inn., 9-1) ... Twenty-one (21) letterwinners return from Liberty's squad that went 41-18 last year earning the program's first-ever at-large selection to an NCAA Regional (second-straight regional appearance) ... With 41 wins, the 2014 Flames recorded the second most wins and posted the fourth 40-plus win season in program history ... Alex Close (1B) and Ashton Perritt (OF/RHP) were both named Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American's, while Close also earned preseason All-America honors by Perfect Game ... Also returning in 215 are Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America and Big South Freshman-of-the-Year Parker Bean and all-conference shortstop Dalton Britt - a Greenville, N.C. native.
? St. John's owns a 1-2 ledger to start the season ... The Red Storm opened the season participating in the Atlanta Challenge falling to Georgia Tech 17-3 on day one and then split a doubleheader with No. 19 Kennesaw State (6-2, 5-10) last Saturday ... Twenty-two (22) letterwinners return including all nine starters and 11 pitchers from a 2014 squad that posted a 35-20 record and a second-place finish in the BIG EAST ... The Red Storm had a league-best six preseason All-BIG EAST selections by the leagues head coaches which included unanimous selections Michael Donadio (OF), Joe Kuzia (RHP) and Ryan McCormick (RHP) to go along with first-team picks Alex Caruso (OF), Robbie Knightes (3B) and Zach Lauricella (OF) ... St. John's entered the 2015 season ranked No. 29 by Collegiate Baseball and was selected as the preseason favorite by the leagues head coaches to win the conference ... Head coach Ed Blankmeyer, who is in his 36th year as a college head coach and 20th at St. John's, was named by USA Baseball as the manager of the 2015 Collegiate National Team in early January.
ECU'S HISTORY ON THE DIAMOND
? In its storied history, the Pirates won the 1961 NAIA National Championship, have claimed 23 conference titles (13 regular season/ 10 tournament), made 26 NCAA Regionals and advanced to three Super Regionals (2001, 2004 and 2009).
THE PIRATES AT A GLANCE
? The Cliff Godwin Era officially got underway last weekend against No. 2 Virginia, where ECU dropped all three games (3-1, 9-2, 4-2) ... 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 seven NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach most recently helping Ole Miss to its first CWS appearance since 1972 ... 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. 6 national seed in 2001 where they advanced to the Super Regional round before being eliminated by Tennessee.
? ECU returns 15 letterwinners in 2015 including 2014 All-Conference USA Freshman Team selections Bryce Harman and Charlie Yorgen, as well as 2013 All C-USA performers David Lucroy and Travis Watkins.
? Also stepping onto the diamond are 11 newcomers, which consist of three junior college transfers in Jimmy Boyd (Brunswick CC), Parker Lamm (Pitt CC) and Jeff Nelson (Pierce College); eight true freshmen in Ryan Clinch, Ross Gardner, Joe Ingle, Mason Keen, Jackson Mims, Jack Owens, Bailey Sugg and Evan Voliva to go along with redshirt freshman Cameron Snow ... The pitching trio of Davis Kirkpatrick, T.J. McDonald and Brandon Saunders will miss the entire 2015 season due to injuries.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Saturday: RHP Ryan Clark (1-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. LHP Evan Kruczynski (0-1, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday (Game 1): LHP Shawn Clowers (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Wolfe (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Sunday (Game 2): TBA vs. TBA
PIRATES TO WATCH
?Kruczynski Notes: Made first collegiate start on Opening Day against No. 2 UVA working 5.1 innings where he allowed two runs (both unearned) on eight hits with one strikeout ... Prior to the start of his sophomore season, Kruczynski had appeared in three games (all out of the bullpen) tallying one full inning of work ... This past summer he played for the Lakeshore Chinooks of the Northwoods League helping them to a 50-21 record, which included a perfect 7-0 run through the playoffs to claim the league title in just the teams third year of existence ... Posted a 6-3 record with a 2.78 ERA in 55 innings ... Closed out his summer working into the sixth inning in six consecutive starts recording a 5-0 record with 20 strikeouts, while allowing just six earned runs in 38.1 innings (1.41 ERA) ... To go along with the league title, the Chinooks were named Perfect Game's Summer Collegiate Team-of-the-Year.
? Wolfe Notes: Like Kruczynski, Wolfe also made his first collegiate start against the nationally-ranked Cavaliers ... The lefty allowed eight runs (two earned) in 4.2 innings on seven hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts ... During his true freshman season, Wolfe appeared in 10 games out of the bullpen ... Made collegiate debut against James Madison (Feb. 15) facing two batters recording an out and walking one ... Sported the fourth-lowest ERA on the squad (2.35) ... Allowed three runs (two earned) on 12 hits with six strikeouts to four walks in 7.2 innings ... Tossed a career-long 3.2 innings against Marshall (Mar. 8) in game one of doubleheader surrendering a run on four hits ... Over the summer played for the Asheboro Copperheads of the Coastal Plain League ... Appeared in 11 games out of the bullpen posting an 0-1 record with a 2.77 ERA ... Allowed seven runs (four earned) in 13.0 innings to go along with eight punch-outs.
? Travis Watkins returned behind the plate for the Pirates after missing a majority of 2014 season with an elbow injury ... Over the weekend he started all three games against Virginia going 1-for-11 with an RBI.
? Newcomer Parker Lamm leads the Pirates with a .444 (4-for-9) batting average and recorded at least one hit in all three contests ... He picked up a pair of hits in his Pirate debut going 2-for-3, while adding base knocks in each contest of the doubleheader.
? Sophomore Charlie Yorgen picked up his 14th career multi-hit game in the series finale against the Cavaliers where he was 2-for-4 ... Yorgen is one of three Pirates who have reached base in all three games thus far in 2015 joining Lamm and Luke Lowery.
