East Carolina University
USF
Gameday: ECU Travels To No. 18 USF
May 04, 2017 | Baseball
| East Carolina at No. 18 USF (Games 46-48) | |
| Dates | May 5-7, 2017 |
| Time | 6:30 \\\ 6:30 \\\ 1 p.m. (ET) |
| Location | Tampa, Fla. (USF Baseball Stadium) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 1070 AM Watch Live (All Weekend) TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: All Weekend |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | USF |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | USF (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Statistics | East Carolina | USF | 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 |
TAMPA, Fla. – East Carolina (24-21, 4-11 AAC) travels to No. 18 USF (34-10, 9-6 AAC) for a three-game American Athletic Conference starting Friday, May 5 at the USF Baseball Stadium. First pitch of the weekend is set for 6:30 p.m. (ET).
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEEKEND
• East Carolina and USF have met 23 times prior to this weekend with the Pirates holding a 15-8 all-time lead in the series … Both the Pirates (vs. Tulane) and the Bulls (vs. Houston) are coming off AAC series wins last weekend.
• 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 takes the hill Friday night at USF ... 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 ... Owns an 18-7 career record with a 2.88 ERA.
• Trey Benton will toe the rubber Saturday vs. the Bulls ... The right hander is 3-3 in 11 starts (0-3 in AAC play) ... He has fanned 62 batters (t7th in AAC) while walking 15 in 60.0 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 appeared in 12 (seven starts) during his freshman season ... Picked up first win in AAC play against Tulane striking out 10 in a career-high 7.1 innings ... Notched first collegiate win against Towson ... Fanned a career-best 11 in five frames vs. WCU (3/3) - all coming in relief.
• 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 21 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 second-best average (.355), runs (34) and leads in walks (22) ... Reached base six times at UNCW (4/18) - 5 hits, 1 walk.
• Spencer Brickhouse enters this weekend batting .307 ... Team col leader HRs (7) - has not hit one in 52 at-bats (span of 20 games) ... Fourth in runs (26) and fifth in 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 .323 to rank third on the team ... Team leader in RBI (36) and runs (35), while tied for second in hits (61) ... Belted six home runs on the season (three grand slams) and has 16 for his career (five grand slams) ... The five-time Johnny Bench Award Watch List candidate (2013-17) has thrown out 9 of 28 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 31-straight games and owns a seven-game hit streak ... Recorded at least one hit in 38 of 45 games (multiple 21 times) ... Had career-best 12-game hit streak snapped against UCONN (Mar. 31) ... Currently he is batting a team-best .361 with four home runs, 27 RBI with 31 runs scored ... Leader on the club with 66 hits (t1st in AAC) ... Named AAC Hitter-of-the-Week on May 1.
• Luke Bolka tied for the team lead with seven home runs and is tied for third with 27 RBI ... Hit home runs in consecutive games (at Houston/vs. UNCW) ... Tallied a team-best five game-winning RBI ... Has 12 career home runs.
• Dwanya Williams-Sutton has hit five home runs and is batting .284 in 18 games this season ... For his career he is batting .339 with 10 home runs and 28 XBHs.
• Dusty Baker enters the weekend batting .284 with 19 runs scored ... Started 21 of 37 games in CF where he has recorded 64 putouts and two assists with one error for a .985 fielding percentage ... Registered career-high four hits at Elon.
• ECU's starting pitching sports a 3.85 ERA ... Allowed 107 runs (91 earned) with 171 Ks to 69 BBs in 212.2 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .247 clip ...The bullpen has surrendered 131 runs (106 earned) with 171 Ks to 93 BBs in 190.0 innings for a 5.02 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .263 ... Allowed 50 of 109 inherited runners to score (45.9 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday: LHP Evan Kruczynski (2-2, 4.59 ERA) vs. RHP Phoenix Sanders (5-2, 2.94 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Trey Benton (3-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. LHP Shane McLanahan (4-2, 3.30 ERA)
Sunday: LHP Jake Agnos (2-2, 2.45 ERA) vs. TBA
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 102-66-1 (.607) 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.
