East Carolina University
Elon
GAMEDAY PREVIEW: 14th Annual Keith LeClair Classic
March 02, 2017 | Baseball
| 14th Keith LeClair Classic (Games 9-11) | |
| Dates | Mar. 3-5, 2017 |
| Times | 4:30 p.m. \\\ 4:30 p.m. \\\ 3:30 p.m. |
| Location | Greenville, N.C.(Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 1070 AM Watch Live (ECU Games Only) TuneIn Radio: Online (within the app search WNCT – Beach Boogie & Blues) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: All Weekend Games |
| Promotions | Click here |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Western Carolina | St. Johns | Appalachian State American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | Western Carolina (PDF) | St. Johns (PDF) Appalachian State (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Statistics | East Carolina | Western Carolina | St. Johns | Appalachian State | The American |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media | @ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) | The American #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball | #AmericanRising |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 9 East Carolina (5-3) will play host to the 14th Annual Keith LeClair Classic this weekend when it welcomes in Western Carolina (4-3), No. 16 St. Johns (8-0) and Appalachian State (4-4) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Mar. 3, 2017
Game 1: Appalachian State vs. (16) St. Johns – 12 Noon (ET)
Game 2: Western Carolina at (9) East Carolina – 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017
Game 3: Western Carolina vs. Appalachian State – 12 Noon (ET)
Game 2: (16) St. Johns at at (9) East Carolina – 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Sunday, Mar. 5, 2017
Game 1: (16) St. Johns vs. Western Carolina – 11 a.m. (ET)
Game 2: Appalachian State at (9) East Carolina – 3:30 p.m. (ET)
MUSTACHE MARCH
• The entire team, including the coaching staff and support staff, will participate in Mustache March in order to raise awareness and money for the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter. Mustache March will create a fun and entertaining environment for Pirate fans throughout the month of March, which will also help towards ALS research. Please join our efforts of Striking Out ALS by donating to our event. All money raised throughout the season will go straight to the ALS Association, and more specifically the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter. During the 14th-Annual Keith LeClair Classic (Mar. 3-5) members of the local ALS Chapter will be on hand to receive donations. Also, please follow our status through various social media outlets (@ECUBaseball, and many more), as well as on the field. Go Pirates! ... For more information about Mustache March, please click on this link
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEEKEND
• East Carolina owns a 30-9 all-time record in the LeClair Classic and has won eight right crowns (2004, 2007-08, 2010, 2013-16) and shared one title (2006) … Western Carolina is 3-6 and St. Johns is 2-3, while Appalachian State will be making its first appearance.
• The Pirates are ranked in the national polls for the third-straight week … Heading in to action this week, ECU is ranked No. 9 by Baseball America, No. 10 by USA Today/Coaches, No. 12 by Perfect Game and No. 18 by D1Baseball.
• The Pirates, who are in their 82nd season of intercollegiate baseball, won the 1961 NAIA National Championship, have claimed 24 conference titles (13 regular season/11 tournament), made 28 NCAA Regionals and advanced to four Super Regionals (2001, 2004, 2009 and 2016).
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to game)
• Last year Godwin guided the Pirates to their second consecutive NCAA Regional (No. 3 seed in Charlottesville) and a Super Regional appearance (Lubbock, Texas). ECU, who posted a 38-23-1 record and finished second in The American (15-8-1), rolled through regional play picking up wins against No. 20 Bryant (9-1), No. 10 Virginia (8-6) and William & Mary (8-4) en route to claiming the Charlottesville crown – its fourth regional title. The Pirates continued their magical run, defeating No. 5 national seed Texas Tech, 8-6, in the opener of the Super Regional and came 90 feet away from making their first appearance in the Men's College World Series in game two of the series.
• Evan Kruczynski tallied his 25th career quality start at Ole Miss (2/17) out of 35 starts ... Named to three preseason All-America Teams (Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game) and was tabbed as The American Preseason Co-Pitcher-of-the-Year ... Friday night starter for the third-straight season ... Named to 2016 Charlottesville All-Regional Team while earning Third-Team All-America honors by D1Baseball.
• Jacob Wolfe is 1-0 on the season after picking up a win against La Salle (2/25) ... He owns a 12-6 career ledger with a 3.09 ERA in 46 games (34 starts) ... Tossed first career complete game at UCONN (5/8/16) with a personal-best nine strikeouts ... Has 17 career quality starts.
• Trey Benton notched first career win against La Salle (2/25) tossing five innings where he struck out a career-high 10 batters ... First career start was at No. 8 Ole Miss working 1.2 innings allowing a pair of runs (both earned).
• Travis Watkins, who was hitless in the first two games of the season (0-for-7), broke out with a 3-for-5 performance in the Ole Miss finale driving in three runs ... He is currently riding a six-game hit streak coming into midweek action against Elon ... The five-time Johnny Bench Award Watch List candidate (2013-17) has thrown out 4 of 6 would-be base stealers on the season ... 2017 preseason All-AAC selection by the leagues coaches ... Two-time team captain and two-time Bench Award semifinalist (2015-16).
• Spencer Brickhouse opened his collegiate career picking up a pair of hits at Ole Miss (2/17) in the season opener which included his first career home run ... He started all eight games at first base batting .310 with two RBI and a team-best 10 runs.
• Charlie Yorgen extended his consecutive start streak to 175 games (started in 2014) over the weekend ... Second on the team with a .370 average, while driving in six and scoring eight runs.
• Joe Ingle has tossed 5.1 scoreless frames on the season in two outings with eight strikeouts ... Picked up first win of the season (8th career) against La Salle in the series opener ... Named a 2017 Second-Team Preseason All-American by NCBWA ... Unanimous preseason All-AAC selection ... Three-time Stopper-of-the-Year candidate (2015-17) ... Notched 20 career saves (4th all-time at ECU) ... Owns a 8-3 record in 66 games with a 2.51 ERA.
• ECU's starting pitching sports a 2.79 ERA ... Allowed 14 runs (12 earned) with 46 Ks to 15 BBs in 42.0 innings ...The bullpen has surrendered 12 runs (11 earned) with 33 Ks to 8 BBs in 27.0 innings for a 3.96 ERA ... Allowed 3 of 11 inherited runners to score (27.3 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday: LHP Bryan Sammons (2-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. LHP Evan Kruczynski (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Michael LoPresti (2-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Wolfe (1-0, 2.61 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Luke Watts (1-0,2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Trey Benton (1-0, 2.70 ERA)
CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCHES
Friday: Audrey LeClair and Bailey Cooper (10 minutes before game time)
Saturday: ALS Association (10 minutes before game time)
Sunday: Prime Investments (10 minutes before game time)
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 nine NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach …During his two years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths, a Super Regional appearance, an American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a 83-48-1 (.633) overall record … Three players have earned All-America honors, five were named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team, six took home all-conference honors (five first-teamers), seven were selected as American Player-of-the-Week, while a pair were drafted by Major League Baseball teams … Named 2015 AAC Coach-of-the-Year and was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in January of 2016 … 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.
