East Carolina Ranked No. 20 In Preseason Collegiate Baseball Poll
December 20, 2022 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina garnered its first preseason national ranking of the 2023 campaign Tuesday morning as Collegiate Baseball slotted the Pirates at No. 20 in its Fabulous 50 Preseason Poll.
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ECU has appeared in the last five Collegiate Baseball preseason polls and in the top 25 in the last three. The Pirates were tabbed No. 8 a year ago and 16th in 2021.
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East Carolina is scheduled to play eight contests against squads in the top 50 on the list, including three versus No. 11 North Carolina, a home and home set with No. 30 NC State and its American Athletic Conference opening series at No. 34 Houston.
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The Pirates are just 59 days away from opening the 2023 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 17-19) against George Washington at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
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2023 Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 50 Preseason Poll (Top 25 Only)
About East Carolina
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ECU has appeared in the last five Collegiate Baseball preseason polls and in the top 25 in the last three. The Pirates were tabbed No. 8 a year ago and 16th in 2021.
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East Carolina is scheduled to play eight contests against squads in the top 50 on the list, including three versus No. 11 North Carolina, a home and home set with No. 30 NC State and its American Athletic Conference opening series at No. 34 Houston.
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The Pirates are just 59 days away from opening the 2023 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 17-19) against George Washington at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
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2023 Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 50 Preseason Poll (Top 25 Only)
- LSU (498)
- Florida (495)
- Stanford (491)
- Texas A&M (489)
- Tennessee (485)
- Louisville (482)
- Arkansas (479)
- Miami (Fla.) (476)
- Vanderbilt (475)
- Wake Forest (472)
- North Carolina (470)
- Oklahoma State (467)
- UCLA (465)
- UC Santa Barbara (463)
- TCU (460)
- Virginia (457)
- Texas Tech (454)
- Southern Miss (452)
- Oregon (450)
- East Carolina (449)
- Maryland (447)
- Mississippi State (444)
- Georgia Tech (440)
- Ole Miss (438)
- Texas (435)
About East Carolina
- ECU captured its third-straight American Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2022, finishing the campaign with 46 victories - its most since a 47-victory campaign in 2019. East Carolina posted a 20-4 record in league play, outpacing second-place UCF by six games.
- The Pirates hosted an NCAA Regional for the fourth-straight season, joining Stanford as the only team to do so.
- ECU earned the No. 8 national seed, its highest since it was the No. 7 national seed in 2001 and hosted a regional in Wilson, N.C.
- The Pirates finished at No. 8 in the final 2022 NCAA RPI ranking.
- Ninth-year head coach Cliff Godwin was tabbed the AAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.
- East Carolina returns the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and Third-Team All-American RHP Carter Spivey as well as freshman All-America selection and AAC Baseball Championship Most Outstanding Player outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and the 2022 squad's leader in batting average outfielder Lane Hoover.
- Spivey was selected to the 2023 Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America Second Team on Dec. 19.
- ECU welcomes back six All-AAC honorees to this year's squad: Lane Hoover (First Team), Carter Spivey (First Team), Cam Clonch (Second Team), Alec Makarewicz (Second Team), Garrett Saylor (Second Team) and Jacob Starling (Second Team).
- The Pirates finished among the top 40 nationally in 12 statistical categories in 2022, ECU was third among NCAA Division I squads in both fielding percentage and sacrifice flies.
- East Carolina is the only team in the nation to have won 40 games the last four seasons, host four-straight NCAA Regionals and play in three-straight NCAA Super Regionals.
- ECU checked in at No. 22 on D1Baseball's recently-released Top 100 collegiate baseball programs.
Players Mentioned
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