East Carolina University
USF
Gameday: No. 7 ECU Returns Home To Host USF
April 12, 2018 | Baseball
| USF at No. 7 ECU | |
| Dates | April 13-15, 2018 |
| Time | 6:30 p.m. \\\ 4 p.m. \\\ 12 Noon (ET) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets \\\ Parking | Buy Tickets | Parking Changes For 2018 | Promotions |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game Watch Live: (All Weekend) TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: All Weekend |
| Official Web Sites | ECU | USF |
| Game Notes | ECU (PDF) | USF | The American (PDF) |
| 2018 Statistics | ECU | USF | The American |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Schedule/Results | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media | ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) | ECUBaseball | The American #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 7 ECU returns home Friday, April 13 playing host to American Athletic Conference foe USF in a three-game series. First pitch of the series is set for 6:30 p.m. (ET) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
MUSTACHE MARCH
• As the calendar turned to April, the ECU and Memphis Baseball programs shaved off their mustaches after for a good cause, which was to help raise money and awareness for ALS Research and the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter. The whole month of March, the ECU and Memphis baseball teams (players, coaching staff and support staff) participated in "Mustache March" to help fight and strikeout ALS with a goal of raising $7,500. As of today, the two programs combined to raise over $10,000 with donations still coming in for the cause. For more information about Mustache March, please click on this link.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SERIES
• ECU (25-7) and USF (21-12) will meet for the 28th time Friday night … The Pirates won the last meeting between the two clubs last year in the AAC Tournament (May 25) on Kirk Morgan's walk-off bunt single during second round action. But before that win, the Bulls had won six-straight in the series and nine of the last 11 meetings dating back to 2005 … ECU owns a 16-11 all-time record over USF dating back to 1990 when the two programs met in the NCAA Atlantic Regional (Miami, Fla.)
• ECU posted a 4-1 record last week which included a road series win at Washington, its first-ever on the West Coast … The Pirates come into this week's action ranked in all six national polls: D1Baseball (No. 7), Baseball American (No. 8), USA Today/Coaches (No. 9), NCBWA (No. 11), Perfect Game (No. 16) and Collegiate Baseball (No. 19) … The No. 7 standing by D1Baseball is the highest in-season ranking (no including pre or postseason) since 2004 when the Pirates stood at No. 3 by Baseball America … It marks the fourth-straight week ECU has been ranked in all six polls and seventh consecutive week in at least one poll.
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to midweek)
• Chris Holba is a two-time AAC Honor Member ... Tied for first nationally in wins (7) ... Also ranks among the national leaders in ERA (21st) ... Perfect Game Mid-Season First-Team All-American selection ... Named to Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List ... Surrendered first runs of the season at Charlotte (streak ended at 25.1 innings) ... Combined on a pair shutouts (UNC/Saint Joseph).
• Tyler Smith posted wins WCU, UNCC, Maryland, Wichita State and Washington ... Notched save vs. UNC ... Tallied three quality starts (first career at UNCC) ... Ranks eighth nationally in ERA ... Fanned career-high seven vs. UMD.
• Trey Benton earned AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week honors (Feb. 26) ... Has tallied four quality starts ... Stands third nationally in K-to-BB ratio (15.33) and third in BBs Per 9 Innings (0.62).
• Spencer Brickhouse has registered at least one hit in 22 of 32 games (multiple 10x) ... Hit HRs vs. UNCC, WCU (twice) and UNC ... Had four hits and had four RBI in the three-game tilt vs. UNC ... Had 27-game on-base streak snapped vs. CofC (3/7) ... Has five career game-winning RBI (one in 2018).
• Connor Litton is team co-leader in HRs (7) ... Hit at HR in four-straight games (all solo) from March 30 to April 4 ... Hit first career grand slam at No. 20 UCF ... Collected 6 hits in UNC series (two in each game) ... Had career-long hit streak of 12 games snapped at Washington (April 7) in the series finale.
• Brady Lloyd leads the team in hits (40), runs (27) and stolen bases (9) ... Stands 29th nationally in average (.396) ... Went 5-or-5 with 5 runs against UMD (3/17) ... Two-time AAC Honor Roll (3/17, 3/26) ... At Campbell, he drove in a career-best two runs ... Registered a pair of game-winning RBI (2/21, 3/30) and has three for his career.
• Dwanya Williams-Sutton returned to the Pirates lineup at Washington starting the series opener where he collected a pair of hits and belted his first home run of the season (13th career) ... Also tallied a pair of hits in the series finale ... Batting .294 on the season with five RBI, 11 runs, eight walks and is 5-for-5 on the base paths.
• Turner Brown tied for second on the team with four game-winning RBI ... Tied for seventh in runs scored (13) ... Belted first homer of season (sixth career) against UMD ... Had 13-game on-base streak snapped at Washington in game two of the series.
• Bryant Packard is batting .513 (20-for-39) with 5 HRs, 11 RBI, 13 Rs, 6 multi-hit Gs and 8 XBHs during 10-game hit streak ... Has reached base in a career-high 15 games, which is also a career-best ... Co-leader in HRs (7) and multi-hit games (12) ... Leads team in GW-RBI (5), average (.400), RBI (26) and slugging (.695) ... Belted career-best two home runs in series finale at Washington (3-run, solo), which came in consecutive at-bats.
• Ryan Ross earned AAC Honor Roll honors (3/19) after picking up two saves in UMD series where he tossed 9.1 scoreless frames with 11 Ks and no BBs.
• Jake Washer is currently riding a nine-game hit streak where he is batting .333 (11-for-33) with 2 HRs, 9 RBI and 4 Rs ... Fifth on the team with 8 multi-hit games ... Hit home runs vs. UNCC, No. 20 UCF, UNCW and Washington ... Drove in a career-high 4 runs at UNC (Feb. 25).
• ECU's starting pitching is sporting a 2.78 ERA (team is 17th nationally) ... They have allowed 56 Rs (49 ERs) with 144 Ks to 43 BBs ... The bullpen has allowed 59 Rs (48 ERs) with 116 Ks and 47 BBs in 127.1 innings for a 3.39 ERA ... The pen has allowed 36 inherited runners to score (36 of 101; 35.6 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS (2018 stats)
Friday: LHP Shane McClanahan (4-3, 2.28 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Holba (7-0, 1.33 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Pete Strzelecki (5-2, 2.98 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Smith (5-0, 1.11 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Collin Sullivan (4-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. RHP Trey Benton (4-4, 3.95 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 three years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths (2015-16), a Super Regional appearance (2016), an American Athletic Conference (2015) Tournament title and a 135-80-1 (.627) 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 three have been 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 … Recently he was named to the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team staff where he will serve as the third base and hitting coach … 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.
