East Carolina University
UCF
ECU Travels To UCF For AAC Match-Up
April 13, 2022 | Baseball
| Games: 35-37 | |
| Dates: | April 14-16, 2022 |
| Times: | 6 p.m. \\\ 6:15 p.m. \\\ 2 p.m. (ET) |
| Locations: | Orlando, Fla. (Thursday-Saturday) | John Euliano Park |
| Game Program: | Baseball Gameday #5 |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game ESPN+ (Thursday | Friday | Saturday) Varsity Network: Online (LEARFIELD) |
| Live Stats: | Thursday-Saturday |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | UCF |
| Game Notes | East Carolina | UCF | American |
| 2022 Statistics | East Carolina | UCF |
| Baseball Central | Roster | Schedule/Results | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard | Weekly Rankings | National Stat Leaders |
| Social Media | ECUBaseball | The American |
ORLANDO, Fla. – East Carolina (19-15, 4-2 AAC) will continue its four-game road trip starting Thursday, April 14 traveling to UCF (21-12, 5-1 AAC) for a three-game American Athletic Conference set. First pitch of the series is slated for 6 p.m. (ET) and will be streamed on ESPN+.
The Pirates, who have made 31 NCAA Regional appearances, won their second-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title with a league-best 20 victories, hosted the Greenville Regional (sixth in program history) for the third consecutive year in 2021 after earning a No. 13 National seed and advanced to the Vanderbilt Super Regional. ECU finished ranked in all six national polls (Collegiate Baseball/No. 12, D1Baseball/No. 12, Perfect Game/No. 12, Baseball America/No. 13, NCBWA/No. 13 and USA Today/No. 13) in 2021 after posting a 44-17 overall record.
ECU returns 25 players including Freshman All-America selections C.J. Mayhue (2020), Zach Agnos (2021) and Josh Moylan (2021) along with AAC All-Conference performers Jake Kuchmaner (2019) and Bryson Worrell (2021). In all, the roster consists of 13 freshmen, 19 sophomores, five juniors and five seniors.
The 2021-22 recruiting class consists of two infielders (Landon Howard and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart), two outfielders (Carter Cunningham and Luke Nowak), two catchers (Ayden Edwards and Ryan McCrystal) and nine pitchers (Merritt Beeker, Charlie Hodges, Jake Hunter, Jordan Little, Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, Erik Ritchie, Ben Terwilliger, Jaden Winter and Trey Yesavage).
INDIVIDUAL QUICK HITS
- For the third-straight year, Jake Kuchmaner was penciled into the weekend rotation ... In nine appearances (eight starts), he owns an 3-2 record with a 3.75 ERA where he has allowed 19 runs (15 earned) on 43 hits in 36.0 innings ... Registered his second quality start of the season against Saint Mary's (3/11) and has eight for his career ... As a Pirate, he is 20-8 with a 3.91 career ERA over 56 appearances (45 starts - ninth all-time at ECU) ... The lefty has worked 221.0 innings with 182 strikeouts to 60 walks ... A First-Team All-AAC selection in 2019, he tossed the 31st perfect game in NCAA DI history at Maryland on March 17.
- Josh Grosz earned his first career win in relief at Duke (3/1) tossing three scoreless frames with five punch outs ... Picked up second win of the year against Michigan (3/5) ... For his career, he is 2-4 with a 6.39 ERA registering 45 strikeouts in 43.2 IP.
- Jake Hunter made his collegiate debut against Bryant (2/20) as the Sunday starter ... In 10 outings (five starts), he sports an 0-1 record with a 4.57 ERA ... The right-hander combined on a 5-0 shut out against North Carolina (2/27) tossing 3.1 scoreless frames with three punch outs ... Became the first true freshman to start a game opening weekend since Trey Benton (2017) at Ole Miss.
- Carter Spivey tossed a career-high 4.2 innings in relief against No. 22 NC State (3/29) ... Also worked 4.1 scoreless frames vs. No. 26 North Carolina (2/27) with a career-high seven strikeouts ... In 19 outings, which included a start at Campbell, he is 2-0 with two saves ... Currently he sports a 3.31 ERA with 42 strikeouts to eight walks in 35.1 total frames.
- C.J. Mayhue was tabbed as a preseason All-American (third-team) by NCBWA ... Prior to the season opener, he earned inclusion on the NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List for the second consecutive year ... Has appeared in 61 career games (59 relief) posting a 6-2 record with nine saves ... Owns a 2.78 ERA and has struck out 129 batters while walking 36 over 94.0 innings ... Made first collegiate start vs. No. 22 NC State (3/29) allowing one run on two with four strikeouts in three innings ... Followed that with a two-inning scoreless start vs. No. 29 ODU (4/6).
- Garrett Saylor was named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players-of-the-Week (March 14) after appearing in four games during the Pirates 3-2 week, which included a series win over Saint Mary's ... Also named to AAC Honor Roll (March 14) ... In 19 outings (two starts) he is 2-3 with two saves and has struck out 55 batters while walking 13 in 62.2 innings.
- Lane Hoover leads the team with a .357 batting average ... Tallied at least one hit in 22 of last 24 games ... At ECU, he has started 126 of 145 games posting a .318 batting average with a home run, 16 doubles and 56 RBI ... Tallied five career game-winning RBI (two in 2022) ... Ranks first in AAC in toughest to strikeout (once every 11.7 ABs) ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (April 4).
- Alec Makarewicz was named to AAC Honor Roll (March 7) ... Tied for the team lead in home runs (six) and doubles (eight), while standing second in RBI (26) ... Hit a pair of home runs in series opener at Cincinnati (April 1) - one each from the right and left side of the plate ... Tied career-high with four RBI at Duke (March 1).
- Jacob Jenkins-Cowart boasts a .333 batting average (third on team) ... Leads the Pirates in RBI (28) and multi-RBI games (eight), while sharing the lead in home runs (six) ... Named to AAC Honor Roll (April 11) ... Has tallied 11 multi-hit games during true freshman season ... Has three game-winning RBI (Saint Mary's/March 11, Saint Mary's/March 13, Wichita State/April 8).
- Josh Moylan returned to action at UNCW ... Hit a pair of home runs and drove in four in ECU's 4-1 week (3/22-27) and now has three on the year ... Drew seven free passes during the Pirates 4-0 week (3/1-6) ... He tallied four walks at Duke (3/1) ... Tallied career-high four hits at Elon (4/12) ... Has appeared in 85 career games (83 starts) and owns .284 career batting average with nine home runs and 48 RBI.
- Zach Agnos leads the team with five game-winning RBI (two in LeClair Classic) and 14 multi-hit games ... In his time at ECU, he has started all 112 games played where he is batting .276 with seven home runs, 23 doubles and 70 RBI.
- Ryder Giles has started 148 of 156 games played at shortstop since stepping on campus in 2019 ... Currently stands third all-time in the Pirate annuals with 37 sacrifices … Earned his sixth career save against Maryland tossing 2.1 scoreless frames with three strikeouts ... Started five career games (Duke 4/3/19, at UNCW 3/22/22, VCU 3/26/22, at CIN 4/2/22, Wichita State 4/8/22) ... Two-time AAC Honor Roll selection (March 28 & April 11) ... Has allowed just one run in eight appearances this season (25.1 innings).
- Bryson Worrell has started all 34 games in center where he owns a .248 average with three home runs, six doubles and has driven in 13 ... He has started 135 of 190 games batting .269 with 23 home runs, 32 doubles, five triples and 89 RBI ... Has swiped 19 of 26 bases and owns a .981 career fielding percentage.
PROBABLE STARTERS (2022 stats)
Thursday: RH Ryder Giles (3-0, 0.36 ERA) vs. RH Connor Staine (4-0, 0.00 ERA)
Friday: LH Jake Kuchmaner (3-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. LH Hunter Patteson (2-1, 2.02 ERA)
Saturday: TBA vs. TBA
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 12 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … During his eight years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to five NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019 and 2021 Greenville Regional host), three Super Regional appearances and a pair of American Athletic Conference Regular season and a pair of AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 277-145-1 (.656) overall record … Sixteen players have earned All-America status, while 15 were NCAA All-Regional selections, 23 were named all-conference (18 first-teamers) and 14 were drafted by Major League Baseball teams … A three-time AAC Coach-of-the-Year selection (2015, 2019, 2021), 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.
