East Carolina University
William & Mary
No. 19 ECU Opens 2020 Season Hosting William & Mary
February 13, 2020 | Baseball
| William & Mary at No. 19 East Carolina (Games 1-3) | |
| Dates | Feb. 14-16, 2020 |
| Times | 4 p.m. \\\ 2 p.m. \\\ 1p.m. (ET) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C.(Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Buy Tickets | Parking |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game Watch Live (All Weekend) TuneIn Radio: Online (Learfield/IMG College) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: All Weekend |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | William & Mary |
| Game Notes | East Carolina | William & Mary | The American |
| 2019 Statistics | East Carolina | William & Mary |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Schedule/Results | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media | ECUBaseball | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 19 East Carolina opens the 2020 season on Friday, Feb. 14 when it plays host to William & Mary in the first of a three-game series. First pitch of the weekend is slated for 4 p.m. (ET) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Under the direction of sixth-year head coach, the Pirates return 18 letterwinners, including USA Collegiate National Team member and All-American Alec Burleson as well as AAC All-Conference performers Tyler Smith (2018) and Jake Kuchmaner (2019).
Also stepping onto the diamond are 18 newcomers, which features one outfielder (Trevor Losito), three catchers (Matt James, Ben Newton and Justin Wilcoxen), a pair of two-way players (Zach Agnos and Skylar Brooks), one utility player (Alec Makarewicz) and 12 pitchers (Cody Benton, Parker Boyle, Elijah Gill, Trystan Kimmel, Dylan Lawson, Nick Logusch, C.J. Mayhue, Nate Nabholz, Carson Whisenhunt, A.J. Wilson and Bradley Wilson). In all, the roster consists of 11 freshmen, eight sophomore 13 juniors and four seniors.
• The Pirates, who are set to open their 86th season of intercollegiate baseball on Feb. 14 at home against the Tribe, won the 1961 NAIA National Championship, have claimed 26 conference titles (14 regular season/12 tournament), made 30 NCAA Regionals and advanced to five Super Regionals (2001, 2004, 2009, 2016 and 2019).
• ECU and William & Mary have played 95 times with the Pirates holding a commanding 76-19 all-time lead in the series … The two clubs last played in the 2016 Charlottesville Regional Final with ECU claiming an 8-4 victory and advanced to the Texas Tech Super Regional.
2020 TEAM QUICK HITS
• ECU returns 18 lettermen from a year ago.
• The Pirates welcome 18 newcomers (or half of its current 36-man roster).
• ECU has potentially six two-way players this season (Agnos, Brooks, Burleson, Giles, Norby and Whisenhunt).
• Prior to the start of the season, ECU is nationally-ranked in all six major polls.
• The Pirates' home schedule consists of 34 games including the 17th-Annual Keith LeClair Classic.
• The 2020 campaign features 17 games (10/home, 6/away, 1/neutral) against nine teams that earned a bid to the 2019 NCAA Regionals, 37 against squads with 30-plus wins (20 with 35-plus, four with 40 or more wins) and 10 contests versus six clubs that finished ranked or receiving votes in the final national polls.
• Sixth-year head coach Cliff Godwin is the only ECU skipper to take the Pirates to a pair of Super Regional appearances (2016, 2019).
• Godwin (201) is 12 wins away from passing Keith LeClair (212) for third place on ECU's all-time wins list.
• Including preseason, the Pirates have been ranked or received votes in at least one national poll in 37-straight weeks (began in 2018 preseason).
INDIVIDUAL QUICK HITS (prior to series)
• Alec Burleson, who was named to five All-America teams in 2019, has earned inclusion on four teams heading into his junior campaign ... Named preseason AAC Player-of-the-Year accolades by leagues head coaches, Baseball America and D1Baseball ... Named to initial Golden Spikes Award and Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List ... Set to open the 2020 season as the Pirates' Friday night starter (second-straight season) ... Owns an 11-4 career record with nine saves in 43 appearances (17 games) ... Can also play multiple positions (1B, RF, LF and DH) ... Sports a .335 career batting average with nine home runs and 79 RBI in 99 career games.
• Tyler Smith is set to open the season in the weekend rotation – most likely as the Saturday starter ... Owns a 16-2 record (.889 win percentage) with one save and 109 strikeouts in 178.1 innings (57 games/26 starts) ... Posted a 7-1 ledger a year ago with a 5.57 ERA in 16 outings (15 starts) ... Tallied six career quality starts.
• Jake Kuchmaner is expected to be in the weekend rotation for the second-straight year .... Named AAC Preseason Pitcher-of-the-Year by the leagues head coaches ... Unanimous Preseason All-Conference selection ... Owns an 11-2 career record with a 3.36 ERA in 27 games (19 starts) ... Tossed 28th perfect game in NCAA D1 history at Maryland on March 17, 2019 ... Earned First-Team All-AAC honors as a sophomore ... Swept league and national honors in consecutive weeks (3/11/19 & 3/18/19) ... Registered four career quality starts.
• Lane Hoover was one of 11 players to appear in 50 or more games (54) during his true freshman season ... Started 37 games (15/CF, 22/RF) ... Stood fourth on the team with a .329 average (44-for-134) with 15 RBI and four doubles … Scored 31 runs ranking seventh on the club … Drew 27 walks while striking out just 15 times … Ranked third on the team with seven stolen bases (out of 15 attempts) … Tallied 11 sacrifices (one sac fly, 10 sac hits) … Recorded lone game-winning RBI against UCF (March 22) with an RBI single in the third stanza … Reached base at a 70.0 percent rate when leading off an inning (21 of 30) … Recorded eight two-out RBI.
• Ryder Giles will open the season at shortstop after making 52 starts at the hot corner during freshman season ... One of 11 players to appear in 50 or more games (57) … Started 52 games at third base … Batted .242 (36-for-149) with a home run and 26 RBI … Laced five doubles and scored 29 runs … Drew 25 walks while striking out 33 times … Ranked third on the team in hit by pitches (11) … Registered three game-winning RBI (all in league play).
• Seth Caddell started 20 of 37 games played (16/C, 4/DH) where he hit at a .241 clip (20-for-83) .. Hit four home runs, drove in 13 and scored eight times … Legged out a pair of doubles and one triple … Drew four walks and struck out 26 times … Drove in first career game-winning RBI against Radford (Feb. 15) in game two of a doubleheader.
• Thomas Francisco was one of 11 players to appear in 50 or more games (56) … Started 34 games (3/1B, 2/3B, 29/DH) … Stood fifth on the team with a .319 batting average (36-for-113) … Hit four home runs with 26 RBI and scored 13 times … Laced four doubles and one triple … Drew 20 walks while striking out 22 times … Ranked fourth on the team in hit by pitches (eight) … Tallied nine multi-hit and six multi-RBI games.
• Bryson Worrell played in 49 games making 22 starts (21/CF, 1/RF) during a … Batted .253 (24-for-95) with five home runs and 19 RBI … Scored 24 runs and walked nine times … Swiped five of six bases … Added three doubles and was hit by a pair of pitches … Tallied five sacrifices (one sac fly, four sac hits) … Registered at hit in 19 of 49 games … Drove in a run 11 times on the year with a career-high four against Radford in game two of a doubleheader.
PROBABLE STARTERS (2019 stats)
Friday: RHP Chris Farrell (5-2, 2.58 ERA) vs. LHP Alec Burleson (6-2, 3.28 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Justin Pearson (2-1, 2.92 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Smith (7-1, 5.57 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Jack Cone (1-2, 7.50 ERA) vs. LHP Jake Kuchmaner (7-2, 2.99 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 11 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … During his five years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to four NCAA Regional berths (2018 and 2019 Greenville Regional host), two Super Regional appearances, the 2019 American Athletic Conference Regular season title, a pair of AAC Tournament crowns and a 201-109-1 (.648) overall record … Ten players have earned All-America status, while 10 were NCAA All-Regional selections, 16 were named all-conference (15 first-teamers), while 13 were drafted by Major League Baseball teams … A two-time AAC Coach-of-the-Year selection (2015, 2019), Godwin was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in January of 2016 … In 2018, he completed a summer stint on the 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.
