Game Day Central: Pirates Host Tigers In Midweek Action
March 17, 2015 | Baseball
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| East Carolina vs. Princeton Mar. 18, 2015 | 5 p.m. (ET) Greenville, N.C. RADIO: WNCT 1070 AM |
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THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME (prior to midweeek)
? East Carolina returns home after sweeping Elon (10-3, 11-8, 20-4) on the road pushing its win streak to four games and series win to four (three-straight sweeps) ... The Pirates will play five games this week at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium starting with a pair of midweek games against Princeton ... This weekend, ECU is set to host former Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) foe Virginia Commonwealth in a three-game non-conference series ...The Pirates hold a 3-0 all-time advantage in the series dating back to the early 1980s.
? As a team, Princeton batted just .196 in three games against Maryland with a .261 on-base and .235 slugging percentage ... The Tigers' pitching staff posted an 11.62 ERA against one of the nation's most potent offenses, with Terrapin hitters combining for a .337 batting average in the series ... Nick Hernandez hit .500 (5-for-10) against Maryland with a double and RBI ... Danny Hoy was 4-for-12 (.333) with a double and RBI ... On the season, Princeton is hitting .261 as a team with a .426 on-base and .567 slugging percentage ... Peter Owens is hitting a team-high .371 with a .436 OBP ... Hoy is batting .350 on the year with a team-high four doubles and three home runs ... Nick Hernandez (.324/.382/.395), Billy Arendt (.316/.474/.357) and Zack Belski (.306/.389/.419) are also off to fast starts this season.
PIRATE QUICK HITS
? East Carolina enters this weeks action having won 8 of its last 10 games - 13 of 16 since starting the season 0-3 ...
? Luke Lowery earned AAC Hitter, Collegiate Baseball National Player and NCAA.com Player-of-the-Week honors on Mar. 16 ... He batted .500 on the week (9-for-18) with four home runs and 13 RBI and eight runs scored ... He currently leads the team in hitting (.468), home runs (8) and RBI (25) ... A two-time AAC Honor Roll selection, he has driven in at least one run in 11-straight games (12 of 14) and reached base in all 14 contests ...
? Travis Watkins was named to the initial Johnny Bench Award Watch List (Mar. 11) marking the third-straight season on the list ... AAC Honor Roll selection (Mar. 9) after batting a team-best .579 (11-for-19) during the Pirates 4-1 week ... The redshirt-sophomore, who is batting .415 on the season, is on a career-best 10-game hit streak where he has registered eight multi-hit games including a career-high five at Elon (Mar. 15) ... Has two HRs on the year including a grand slam against UNC Greensboro (Mar. 11) ...
? Bryce Harman ranks second on the team with a .442 batting average ... The left-handed first baseman leads the club in doubles (8), runs (17) and hit by pitches (7) ... He smacked his first HR of the season at Elon (Mar. 13) and has reached base in all 15 games this season ...
? Charlie Yorgen saw his 12-game hit streak come to an end at Elon (Mar. 15) going 0-for-4 at the plate, however he drew a career-high three walks to extend his streak or reaching base safely to 19 games - also a career-best ...
? Reid Love increased his batting average nearly 100 points on the weekend going 5-for-7 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored in the series finale against Elon ... He also picked up his second win in relief against the Phoenix on Saturday ...
? ECU's starting pitching boasts a 2.33 ERA thru 19 games ... They have allowed 47 runs (29 ERs) with 68 strikeouts to 22 walks in 112.0 innings ...
? The bullpen has surrendered 26 runs (22 earned) in 58.0 innings posting a 3.41 ERA ... They have allowed just four of 27 inherited runners to score (14.8 percent) ...
PROBABLE STARTERS
Wednesday: TBA vs. TBA
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 on Feb. 13 with a three-game series against No. 2 Virginia ... 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.
