East Carolina University
Duke
No. 22 ECU Hosts No. 25 Duke Tuesday
February 23, 2021 | Baseball
| Games: 4 | |
| Dates: | Feb. 23, 2021 |
| Times: | 4 p.m. (EST) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C.(Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Game Program: | Baseball Gameday #1 |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game ESPN+ (Tuesday) | TuneIn Radio: Online (Learfield/IMG College) |
| Internet Options | Live Stats: Tuesday |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Duke |
| Game Notes | East Carolina | Rhode Island |
| 2021 Statistics | East Carolina | Duke |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Schedule/Results | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard | Weekly Rankings | National Stat Leaders |
| Social Media | ECUBaseball | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 22 East Carolina will play host to No. 25 Duke Tuesday afternoon with a 4 p.m. (EST) scheduled first pitch at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Pirates, who have made 30 NCAA Regional appearances, completed a three-game weekend sweep of Rhode Island to start the 2021 campaign. ECU returns return 27 players, including American Athletic All-Conference performers Tyler Smith (2018) and Jake Kuchmaner (2019), as well as Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America selection C.J. Mayhue (2020). In all, the roster consists of 22 freshmen, six sophomores, nine juniors and three seniors.
Also stepping onto the diamond are 12 newcomers in Danny Beal (RHP), Joey Berini (INF), CJ Boyd (1B/RHP), Garrett Chandler (OF), Cam Clonch (OF/1B/RHP), Landon Ginn (RHP), Josh Grosz (RHP), Ryley Johnson (OF), Josh Moylan (1B), Joey Rezek (OF/C), Austin St. Laurent (INF/RHP) and Jacob Starling (INF/OF).
INDIVIDUAL QUICK HITS
- Seventh-year head coach Cliff Godwin stands third on ECU's all-time wins list with 217 victories ... He passed his college coach and ECU Hall of Famer Keith LeClair (212) on March 8, 2020 with a 4-1 win at Charlotte in the series finale ... His .657 win percentage stands 15th among active NCAA DI coaches (page 10) ... Bio bullet points on page 5 of notes.
- Four Pirates earned inclusion on the preseason all-conference team in OF/INF Thomas Francisco, LHP Jake Kuchmaner, 2B Connor Norby and OF Bryson Worrell ... Kuchmaner and Worrell were two of five players on the squad that were unanimous selections.
- Kuchmaner was tied for second in the nation in victories in 2020 with four after posting a 4-0 record in four appearances and a 0.60 ERA ... In 2019 he tossed the 31st perfect game in NCAA DI history at Maryland on March 17 ... Tallied four career quality starts.
- Tyler Smith, a 2018 all-conference performer, owns an 18-3 career record (85.7 win pct.) with one save in 61 games (30 starts) ... Tallied six career quality starts.
- Worrell led the Pirates in six offensive categories in 2020, which included doubles (six), HRs (five), RBI (14), total bases (43), slugging (.729) and walks (10) … Closed out the season reaching base in eight-straight games (Feb. 29-March 11).
- Francisco batted a team second-best .423 with a home run, 7 RBI and scored five times in nine games a year ago ... Tallied four multi-hit and two multi-RBI games in 2020.
- Norby hit at a .403 clip in 2020 and led the club in hits (25) and stolen bases (6-8), while standing third in runs scored (14) ... Started all 17 games at second base ... Norby earned AAC Honor Roll accolades following the Pirates sweep of Rhode Island batting .500 on the weekend (6-for-12) with four RBI and a run scored.
- Freshman Carson Whisenhunt struck out a career-best 10 batters in four innings against the Rams on Sunday earning Collegiate Baseball National Player-of-the-Week honors and was named to the AAC weekly Honor Roll ... He became the first freshman since Jake Agnos(2017) vs. Tulane with double-digit punch outs in a game.
- C.J. Mayhue stood second on the team in strikeouts (19) and innings pitched (16.0), while sharing the team lead in appearances (8) in 2020 ... Earned his first career win against Georgia Southern (2/23/20) ... Struck out a career-high six batters in a career-best 3.1 innings against No. 13 Ole Miss in relief ... Named to NCBWAÂ Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List.
- Ryder Giles started 15 games at shortstop sporting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage ... Appeared in four games on the mound notching two saves with 7 Ks in 4.1 IPs.
- Zach Agnos started 17 games at third base where he batted .246 with nine RBI and seven runs scored ... One of 13 players to post a 1.000 fielding percentage in 2020.
- Seniors Matt Bridges and Cam Colmore return for their sixth year ... Combined, they have appeared in 124 games, with an 8-4 record, seven saves with 160 Ks in 163.1 IPs.
2021 TEAM QUICK HITS
- ECU opened up its 87th season of collegiate baseball (1932-42, 1946-present) this past weekend completing a three-game sweep of Rhode Island.
- The Pirates have made a regional appearance in 16 of the last 21 seasons, including four of five under Godwin (2015, '16, '18, '19) - no post-season in 2020 dure to COVID-19 pandemic.
- Heading into this weeks action, ECU has been ranked or received votes in at least one national poll for 44-straight weeks (began in 2018 preseason) ... See page 10 for 2021 preseason rankings.
- Prior to the 2020 season being cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic, ECU outscored its opponents 117-54.
- The Pirates led the nation (2020) in fielding percentage (.990) and sac bunts (23) ... They also finished in the top 10 in batting average (.317) and hits (183).
- ECU enters 2021 having won more overall games than any team in The American over the last six years (214) and more league games (71), which included a league-best 20 in 2019.
- For the third-straight year and fourth time since joining The American in 2015, ECU was picked to finish first in the 2021 preseason poll by the league's eight head coaches.
- In 2020, the Pirates fanned 171 batters in 17 contests (10.1 Ks pg) with a season-high 17 coming in the series finale against William & Mary - the most since 17 vs. UCF on March 22, 2019 ... ECU's hurlers fanned nine or more batters in a game 12 times (10-plus seven times).
- Heading into the season opener, ECU has five two-way players on its roster ... Dubbed #2WayU by Godwin, the five players are Zach Agnos, Skylar Brooks, Cam Clonch, Ryder Giles and Austin St. Laurent.
PROBABLE STARTERS (2020 stats)
Tuesday: RHP Josh Nifong (0-0, 4.76 ERA) vs. Carter Spivey (0-0, 7.36 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 six 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 217-113-1 (.657) overall record … Ten players have earned All-America status, while 10 were NCAA All-Regional selections, 16 were named all-conference (15 first-teamers) and 14 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.
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