East Carolina University
Tulane
Gameday: ECU Hosts Tulane In AAC Action
April 27, 2017 | Baseball
| Tulane at East Carolina (Games: 43-45) | |
| Dates: | April 28-30, 2017 |
| Time | 6:30 p.m. \\\ 4 p.m. \\\ 3:36 p.m.(ET) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 1070 AM Watch Live (Friday \\\ Saturday) l CBS Sports Network (Sunday) TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: All Weekend |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Tulane |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | Tulane (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Statistics | East Carolina | Tulane | 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. – East Carolina (22-20, 2-10 AAC) closed out its four-game home stand this weekend at Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium playing host to Tulane (21-21, 8-4 AAC) in an American Athletic Conference three-game series. First pitch for the weekend is set for 6:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday night.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEEKEND
• East Carolina and Tulane have met 52 times prior to this weekend with the Green Wave holding a 30-22 all-time lead in the series … Both the Pirates and the Wave have won three of their last five games coming into the series.
• 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)
• Evan Kruczynski returns to the Friday night role when ECU hosts Tulane this weekend ... The lefty earned AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week honors (4/24) after tossing 8 shutout innings at Cincinnati where he allowed one hit and retired 22-straight in a 6-0 win ... Tallied his 26th career quality start at Cincinnati (4/22) out of 38 starts.
• Trey Benton will toe the rubber Saturday vs. the Green Wave ... The right-hander is 3-2 in 10 starts (0-2 in AAC play) ... He has fanned 59 batters (t5th in AAC) while walking 14 in 56.0 innings pitched … Struck out a career-high 10 batters against La Salle and Towson ... Has five quality starts.
• Jake Agnos gets the start on Sunday ... Has 11 (six starts) during his freshman season ... Looking for first win in AAC play (two no-decisions) ... Picked up first collegiate win against Towson ... Fanned a career-best 11 in five frames vs. WCU (3/3).
• Kirk Morgan has appeared in 13 career games on the mound (four starts) posting a 6-0 record with a 3.77 ERA ... Has 21 career strikeouts to six walks in 31.0 IP ... He has started 7 of 20 games in a utility role (1B, 3B and DH) ... Collected five hits on the year while driving in five runs.
• Charlie Yorgen saw his 190-game starting streak snapped vs. Towson (March 25) which started in 2014 ... Has hit three home runs on the season (eight career) ... Hit first career grand slam against UCF (4/13) ... His homer vs. the 49ers was a 3-run shot in the 10th inning giving ECU a 10-7 walk-off win against Charlotte in game one of the doubleheader (3/11) ... Earned American Hitter-of-the-Week and College Sports Madness Player-of-the-Week honors on April 24 after helping ECU to a 3-1 week where he batted .684 registering four multi-hit games ... Team leader in average (.363), runs (32) and walks (19) ... Reached base six times at UNCW (4/18) - 5 hits, 1 walk.
• Spencer Brickhouse enters this weekend batting .313 ... He leads the club HRs (7) ... Fourth in runs (26) and RBI (24) ... Hit three home runs in two-game set at CofC including his first multi-HR game on March 8 (consecutive at-bats) ... Belted first home run in first collegiate game at Ole Miss (2/17) ... He started all 36 of 41 games ... Tallied three game winning RBI (ASU, CofC, CIN).
• Travis Watkins is batting .316 to rank third on the team ... Team leader with 32 RBI ... Also stands second in runs (30) and third in hits (56) ... Belted five home runs on the season (two grand slams) and has 15 for his career (four grand slams) ... The five-time Johnny Bench Award Watch List candidate (2013-17) has thrown out 9 of 26 runners on the season ... Two-time team captain and two-time Bench Award semifinalist (2015-16).
• Eric Tyler enters the weekend having reached base in 28-straight games ... Recorded at least one hit in 35 of 42 games (mutiple 19 times) ... Had career-best 12 game hit streak snapped against UCONN (Mar. 31) ... Currently he is batting a team second-best .349 with four home runs, 23 RBI with 28 runs scored ... Leader on the club with 60 hits (2nd in AAC).
• Luke Bolka is second on the club with six HRs and is third with 25 RBI ... Hit home runs in consecutive games (at Houston/vs. UNCW) ... Tallied a team-best five game-winning RBI ... Has 11 career home runs.
• Dwanya Williams-Sutton has hit five home runs and is batting .339 in 15 games this season ... For his career he is batting .355 with 10 home runs and 28 XBHs.
• Bryant Packard posted his first career four-hit game against Towson where he laced pair of doubles and drove in two ... He has tallied six multi-hit games.
• Dusty Baker enters the weekend batting .308 with 17 runs scored ... Started 19 of 34 games in CF where he has recorded 58 putouts and two assists with one error for a .984 fielding percentage ... Registered career-high four hits at Elon.
• ECU's starting pitching sports a 3.68 ERA ... Allowed 96 runs (80 earned) with 155 Ks to 60 BBs in 195.2 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .246 clip ...The bullpen has surrendered 126 runs (101 earned) with 163 Ks to 89 BBs in 180.0 innings for a 5.05 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .255 ... Allowed 48 of 99 inherited runners to score (48.5 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday: RHP Corey Merrill (6-2, 3.59 ERA) vs. LHP Evan Kruczynski (1-2, 3.25 ERA)
Saturday: RHP J.P. France (3-3, 4.39 ERA) vs. RHP Trey Benton (3-2, 3.38 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. LHP Jake Agnos (1-2, 2.68 ERA)
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 100-65-1 (.605) 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.
