East Carolina University
Memphis
Gameday: No. 6 ECU Hosts Memphis
May 16, 2019 | Baseball
| Memphis at No. 6 ECU (Games 53-55) | |
| Dates: | May 16-18, 2019 |
| Times: | 6:30 p.m. \\\ 6:30 p.m. \\\ 1 p.m. (ET) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets: | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game Watch Live TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats: All Series |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | Memphis |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | Memphis (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2019 Statistics: | ECU | Memphis |
| Baseball Central: | Roster | Schedule/Results | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media: | ECUBaseball | The American #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball | #AmericanRising |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Sixth-ranked ECU closes out the 2019 regular season at home starting Thursday, May 16 when it plays host to Memphis in a three-game American Athletic Conference series. First pitch at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium is slated for 6:30 p.m. (ET).
REGULAR SEASON AAC CHAMPIONS
ECU claimed its first regular season title in The American last Friday in a 6-1 win at Wichita State … The Pirates go a solid outing by Jake Agnos (7.0 IP, 0 Rs) on the mound, while Alec Burleson tallied three hits and plated four runs … The title was the first in regular season play since the 2009 club won the Conference USA crown.
NEARLY $11,000 RAISED FOR MUSTACHE MARCH
• Annually, for the past 16 seasons, ECU hosts the "Keith LeClair Classic" a tournament put together to bring awareness to ALS through the Jim "Catfish" Hunter chapter, which is located in Raleigh, N.C. The chapter finds the tournament as a way to continue awareness and fundraising in Coach LeClair's honor. The goal is to use the LeClair Classic as a starting point for our own fundraiser to help Strikeout ALS.
• In 2018, the ECU and Memphis baseball programs participated in "Mustache March" raising nearly $11,000 with donations going towards funding, supporting families and researching through local chapters. The past two seasons, ECU Dowdy Student Stores has donated $10,500 from t-shirt sales during the year and has pushed ECU's four-year total to $43,492 in donations.
• This year, ECU teamed up with the Memphis and Michigan baseball clubs to raise $10,836 for ALS.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE SERIES
• ECU (40-12, 18-3) enters the weekend series having won nine of its last 11 games, which has included weekend series victories against Tulane, Cincinnati and Wichita State … On Tuesday, the Pirates earned their 40th win of the season (one of six teams nationally) in a walk-off fashion against instate foe Campbell, 4-3 … ECU owns a .289 batting average with 51 home runs, 497 hits (152 for extra bases) with 333 runs scored to rank among the conference leaders … The Pirates are averaging 6.4 runs per game, while surrendering 3.7 runs per contest … The pitching staff owns a 3.33 ERA (ninth nationally) with 491 strikeouts (first in AAC).
• Memphis (26-24, 9-11 AAC) enters the series having lost four of its last seven contests … The Tigers are batting .277 on the year with 460 hits (136 for extra bases) and has scored 320 runs … Their pitching staff owns a 5.35 ERA with 476 strikeouts in 437.1 innings.
• ECU holds a 33-17 all-time lead in the series … The Pirates have won four-straight against the Tigers dating back to the 2017 season.
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to series)
• Jake Agnos has not allowed a run in his last 26.0 innings worked, which covers his last three-plus starts ... Struck out a career-high 14 batters in a personal-best 8.2 innings against No. 18 UConn ... Recorded at least six strikeouts in 12-straight games (double-digit four times) ... Three-time AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week selections (2/25, 4/1, 4/22) ... Named Collegiate Baseball National Player-of-the-Week (4/22) ... Stands ninth nationally in strikeouts (108) and ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.15) ... Tallied seven quality starts on the year ... Fanned 264 career batters, which stands fourth all-time in the AAC and eighth at ECU ... Played for Team USA (Collegiate National Team) in Summer of '18 ... Named to 2019 Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 First-Team ... Semifinalist for 2019 College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher-of-the-Year.
• Jake Kuchmaner tossed 28th perfect game in NCAA DI history at Maryland (3/17) ... Swept league and national honors in consecutive weeks (3/11 & 3/18) ... Ranks 20th nationally in WHIP (0.93) and 12th in hits allowed per game (5.40) ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (4/29) after working 8.2 innings against Tulane ... Has worked into the ninth inning three times this season ... Fanned career-high nine batters at No. 9 Ole Miss ... Registered three career quality starts.
• Tyler Smith is one of two Pirates pitchers with seven or more wins on the season (7-0) ... Tied for 23rd nationally in starts ... Earned wins over Western Carolina, Maryland, USF, Houston, UConn, Cincinnati and Wichita State ... Sports a 16-1 career record ... Registered sixth career quality start at Cincinnati (2019) ... Fanned career-high eight batters at Cincinnati (2019).
• Alec Burleson owns a 5-1 record on the mound this season in 19 appearances (six starts) with a 3.25 ERA ... Earned his 10th career win at No. 12 UNC ... Registered career-high 10 batters vs. Monmouth earlier in the season and has 49 punch outs to 17 walks in 44.1 innings ... At the plate, he stands 13th nationally in doubles (20) and third in sac flies (eight) ... Owns a .363 batting average with six home runs, 45 RBI and 27 runs ... Tallied a team-high 23 multi-hit games, while posting a team second-best 11 multi-RBI contests ... Named to a pair of Midseason All-America Teams (D1Baseball, Perfect Game) as a utility player ... Three-time AAC Player-of-the-Week honoree ... Tabbed Perfect Game National Player-of-the-Week on Feb. 25 ... Two-time AAC Honor Roll selection (2/18, 4/1) ... Named to 2019 Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 First-Team ... Semifinalist for the 2019 John Olerud Two-Way National Player-of-the-Year.
• Gavin Williams has appeared in 30 career games making four starts ... Has worked out of the bullpen in his last 11 outings tossing 24.1 innings where he has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 16 hits with eight walks and 24 strikeouts ... In last start at No. 24 Duke, he gave up five runs in the first inning before exiting the game ... Tallied six or more strikeouts in a game three times with career-high 8 at USF.
• Spencer Brickhouse earned AAC Player-of-the-Week honors on March 25 ... Currently batting .333 with 12 home runs, 47 RBI ... Hit a pair of home runs (3-run, 2-run) in series finale vs. No. 18 UConn where he drove in five ... Drew five walks in UCLA series ... Leads the club with 38 free passes ... Also hit a pair of HRs at Houston in Game 1 of a doubleheader (2-run, grand slam) ... Owns a .311 career batting average with 32 home runs and 125 RBI ... Has 14 career GW RBI (7 in 2019).
• Bryant Packard is second on the team in batting (.363) ... Second on the club with 19 multi-hit contests ... Earned AAC Player-of-the-Week honors (4/29) ... Hit grand slams in consecutive games at USF ... Tallied a pair of game-winning RBI at USF (11 career) ... Named to five preseason All-America teams (four first-team), Golden Spikes Award Watch List and preseason AAC Player-of-the-Year in 2019 ... Set school record with a hit in 32-straight games ... Played for Team USA (Collegiate National Team) in Summer of '18 ... Owns a .361 career batting average with 21 home runs, 95 RBI and 111 runs.
• Brady Lloyd is second on the with six GW RBI this season (2 vs. Marist) ... Batting .240 with one home run, 20 RBI and 26 runs ... Tied for second on the club with seven stolen bases ... Tallied 15 sacrifices (14 sac hits ranking second nationally) ... Has been hit by a pitch 12 times in '19 (21 career).
• Jake Washer named to 2019 Buster Posey Watch List ... '18 Bench Award Semifinalist ... Hit home runs in consecutive games at Houston ... Belted first career grand slam at No. 12 UNC (5/8) ... Tied his career-high with four RBI against the Tar Heels (other was vs. UNC in 2018) ... Tallied 15 career home runs with 79 RBI ... Started 44 games in 2019 (38/catcher, 6/DH) ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (4/22) for first time in career.
• Turner Brown tied ECU single-game record with two triples vs. Marist (3/10) ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (3/11) ... ECU's all-time leader with 54 sacrifices ... Ranks third in assists (573) and fifth in hit by pitches (33) ... Registered 14 career game-winning RBI (8 in 2018).
• ECU's pitching staff sports a 3.33 ERA (ninth nationally) with six shutouts (seventh nationally) ... The starters own a 3.26 ERA allowing 106 runs (96 earned) with 276 strikeouts to 95 walks ... The bullpen has surrendered 88 runs (75 earned) with 215 punch outs and 65 walks in 197.2 innings for a 3.41 ERA ... They have allowed 32 of 114 inherited runners to score on the year (28.1 pct.).
PROBABLE STARTERS (2019 stats)
Thursday: LHP Danny Denz (2-2, 6.60 ERA) vs. LHP Jake Agnos (8-2, 2.19 ERA)
Friday: RHP Alex Hicks (4-2, 3.81 ERA) vs. LHP Jake Kuchmaner (5-1, 2.09 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Hunter Smith (4-7, 5.86 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Smith (7-0, 4.93 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 10 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … During his four-plus years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to three NCAA Regional berths (2018 Greenville Regional host), a Super Regional appearance, two American Athletic Conference Tournament titles, the 2019 AAC regular season crown and a 194-103-1 (.653) overall record, which stands fourth all-time among ECU head coaches … Eight players have earned All-America status, seven were NCAA All-Regional selections, 12 were named all-conference (11 first-teamers), while six 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 … Recently he completed a summer stint on the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team staff that posted a 12-3 record that included series wins over Chinese Taipei, Japan and Cuba … 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 (46-16 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.
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