Game Day Central: ECU Travels To UCF
May 18, 2016 | Baseball
| East Carolina vs. UCF (Games: 52-54) | |
| Dates: | May 19-21 |
| Times: | 11 a.m. (ET) -- all three games |
| Location | Orlando, Fla. (Jay Bergman Field) |
| Tickets & Parking | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage |  Radio: WNCT 1070 AM | ECU Pirates On Demand (Listen Live) TuneIn Radio Online (within the app search WNCT -- Beach Boogie & Blues) |
| Internet Options | GameTracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | UCF | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | UCF | The American |
| 2016 Baseball Statistics | East Carolina | UCF |
| ECU Baseball Central | Promotional Calendar | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball | #AmericanRising |
| East Carolina | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina (31-19-1, 12-8-1) will close out its regular season on the road with a three-game American Athletic Conference series at UCF (25-28, 8-13). First pitch for all three games is set for 11 a.m. (ET).
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME
? ECU and UCF will meet for the 37th time on Thursday with the Pirates holding a 26-10 lead in the all-time series ... The Pirates are coming off their first home series loss of the season and in American Athletic Conference play dropping a pair of games to USF ... The Knights are coming off a road series loss at UCONN, where they dropped all three games.
? For the first time since Feb. 29th, the Pirates are not nationally-ranked ... ECU had been ranked int he polls 11 consecutive weeks until it posted a 1-3 record last week ... They first entered the polls after picking up a road series win over No. 4 Virginia (Feb. 26-28) - the first over a Top 5 program since 2002.
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to midweek game)
? Evan Kruczynski owns a 5-1 record with a league-best 1.83 ERA ... Friday starter, he has faced off against All-America hurlers Connor Jones (UVA), Andrew Lantrip (HOU) and Anthony Kay/twice (UCONN), as well as National POWs Kyle Cedotal (SE Louisiana), Jon Duplantier (Rice) and Lantrip posting a 2-0 record ... Named to the Golden Spikes Midseason Award and National College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher-of-the-Year Watch Lists on April 20 ... Eleven quality starts (21 career) in 2016.
? Jimmy Boyd picked up the series clinching wins against HOU & MEM in AAC play ... Out dueled NCBWA National POW Seth Romero working a career-high 8.2 innings and was one out shy of a CG SHO (two-out error) in a 5-1 win, where he was named AAC and CollegeSportsMadness POW ... Recorded seven quality starts (UVA, Rice, JAX, HOU, UCONN, CIN, USF).
? Jacob Wolfe is 6-3 on the season with a 2.53 ERA in 14 starts ... Tossed first career complete game at UCONN (5/8) with a personal-best nine strikeouts ... Two-time AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week (2/29, 5/9) ... Has 17 career quality starts (8 in 2016) and 11 career wins.
? Dwanya Williams-Sutton leads the AAC in avgerage (.348) and on-base pct. (.448), while ranking fifth in slugging (.548) ... Two-time league honor roll selection (2/29, 5/9) ... Hit a two home runs in UCONN series (May 6-8) including game-winner in the seventh (3-run shot) in Sunday's finale ... Has 16 extra-base hits on the season (9/2Bs, 3/3Bs, 4 HRs) - HRs vs. JAX, Elon and UCONN (twice) ... Tallied five game-winning RBI on the season with three coming in The American.
? Parker Lamm is second on the team and sixth in The American in batting (.308) ... Tied for fourth in the league with nine sac bunts ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (4/18) after batting .538 with eight RBI at Memphis ... Recorded at least one hit in 35 of 47 games where he has an official at-bat, while reaching base in 38 contests.
? Travis Watkins batting .304, which ranks eighth in The American ... Leads ECU in doubles (14), runs (35) and tied for first in total bases (81) ... Has 3 HRs and 28 RBI ... Laced three doubles at Memphis (4/16), which hadn't been done since 2011 (Trent Whitehead) ... Picked up 11th GW-RBI with 2-R HR vs. UCONN (4/24) - his third of the season ... At least one hit in 42 of 49 games ... Thrown out 17 would-be base stealers behind the plate ranking third in the AAC ... 2015 Johnny Bench Award semifinalist ... Four-time Bench Watch List candidate (2013-16).
? Eric Tyler is a two-time AAC Honor Roll selection (3/28 & 4/4) ... Batting .293 ... Leads the club with 32 RBI and is tied for first in home runs (4) and total bases (81) ... First career multi-HR game vs. JAX (3/26) setting an ECU & AAC single-game record with 8 RBI ... Personal-best four hits vs. UNCW (3/29).
? Joe Ingle recorded a pair of saves at UCONN pushing season total to a league-best 11 ... Ranks 13th in the nation in saves ... Named AAC Honor Roll (4/25) ... Career-high 4.0 IP with 7 Ks vs. Elon (4/5) in a win ... Fanned career-high nine vs. Maryland (3/6) ... Owns a 5-3 record with a 2.86 ERA in 27 games ... Recorded 19 career saves, which is fourth all-time at ECU ... Named to NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List.
? Turner Brown is batting .292 with 3 HRs, 28 RBI and 22 runs scored ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (2/22) ... Delivered game-winning hit (walk-off) against SE Louisiana (3/4) with a two-RBI single in the ninth ... Belted home runs against Longwood, NC State and USF ... Registered second career game-winning RBI at UCONN (5/7) in ECU's 11-9 series clinching win.
? Garrett Brooks stand fourth on the team in batting average (.300) and ninth in The American ... The senior co-captain has started 37 of 51 games and is tied for second on the squad with 11 doubes.
? Charlie Yorgen extended his consecutive start streak to 156 games (started in 2014) against USF (5/15) ... Tallied career-best four hits vs. the Aggies (2/23) ... Ranks second in The American with 12 sac bunts.
? ECU's starting pitching boasts a 2.66 ERA ... Allowed 106 runs (83 earned) with 195 Ks to 73 BBs in 262.2 innings ...The bullpen has surrendered 101 runs (87 earned) with 181 Ks to 85 BBs in 174.2 innings for a 4.48 ERA ... Allowed 62 of 133 inherited runners to score (46.6 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Thursday: LHP Evan Kruczynski (5-1, 1.83 ERA) vs. RHP Robby Howell (7-2, 1.83 ERA)
Friday: RHP Jimmy Boyd (6-4, 2.51 ERA) vs. RHP Juan Pimentel (3-6, 4.18 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Jacob Wolfe (6-3, 2.53 ERA) vs. TBA
ECU'S HISTORY ON THE DIAMOND
? In its storied history, the Pirates won the 1961 NAIA National Championship, have claimed 24 conference titles (13 regular season/ 11 tournament), made 27 NCAA Regionals and advanced to three Super Regionals (2001, 2004 and 2009).
GODWIN AT A GLANCE
? Cliff 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 eight NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach ... Godwin guided the Pirates to a 40-win season, an American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a berth in the Coral Gables Regional -- its first NCAA Regional since 2012 -- in his first year at the helm ... Named 2015 AAC Coach-of-the-Year and was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in January of 2016 ... Currently owns a 71-41-1 overall record (.633 percentage) as a head coach ... Third fastest coach to reach the 50-win plateau, which he did in 75 games (Earl Smith and Dr. Gary Overton did it in 65 games) ... 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. 7 national seed in 2001 where they advanced to the Super Regional round before being eliminated by Tennessee.
