No. 11 ECU Begins 2023 Against George Washington

Games 1-3: George Washington at No. 11 East Carolina
Coverage	February 17: 6:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch February 18: 2:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch February 19: 1:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Radio: 94.3 The Game (Friday/Saturday) \\\ 103.7 WTIB (Sunday)
Location:	Greenville, N.C. \| Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium
Official Web Sites:	East Carolina \| George Washington
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| George Washington \| The American
Statistics:	East Carolina \| George Washington
Baseball Central:	Roster \| Schedule/Results \| NCAA Baseball \| College Scoreboard \| Weekly Rankings \| National Stat Leaders
Social Media:	ECUBaseball \| The American

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Nearly 250 days have passed since a sold-out Clark-LeClair Stadium roared with the cacophonous sounds of Pirate Nation supporting their boys against Texas in the Greenville Super Regional. The lights are set to shine bright once more this weekend as No. 11 East Carolina hosts Atlantic 10 Conference outfit George Washington in a three-game series that serves to kickstart the 2023 campaign.

The three-time defending regular season champion Pirates are under the direction of ninth-year head coach and reigning AAC Coach of the Year Cliff Godwin who welcomes back six all-conference selections as well as 2022 AAC Pitcher of the Year Carter Spivey.

A model of consistency, ECU put together its fourth-straight 40-win season in 2022 (2020 was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and third consecutive 20-win league showing on the way to the regular season and conference tournament titles. East Carolina hosted a regional for the fourth-straight year, joining Stanford as the only teams in the nation to do so, and knocked off Coppin State, Virginia and Coastal Carolina to win its seventh regional crown in program history before falling to the Longhorns in a tense three-game Super Regional affair.

Along with unanimous All-American Athletic Conference Preseason Team selections Spivey and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, ECU returns the services of all-league picks Lane Hoover (First Team), Cam Clonch (Second Team), Alec Makarewicz (Second Team), Garrett Saylor (Second Team) and Jacob Starling (Second Team). Hoover paced the club with a .341 batting average to go along with 15 doubles and 35 walks drawn while Jenkins-Cowart hit .330 with a team-high 65 RBI.

East Carolina was selected as the AAC preseason favorite for the fifth-straight season while Spivey was tabbed the Preseason Pitcher of the Year, joining the likes of Evan Kruczynski (2017), Jake Kuchmaner (2020) and Carson Whisenhunt (2022).

The Pirates garnered plenty of support in Greenville in 2022, ranking 14th in the nation in total attendance and 18th in average attendance while welcoming a facility-record 5,807 fans into the friendly confines for game two of the Super Regional. On the back of that momentum, season tickets have sold out for the second-straight year.

Fans will have plenty of opportunities to see their squad in person this campaign as ECU will play 34 games at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Projected Opening Weekend Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Carter Spivey (8-0, 2.83) vs. RHP Logan Koester (3-2, 4.73)
Saturday: RHP Trey Yesavage (1-0, 4.50) vs. RHP Christopher Kahler (2-2, 6.62)
Sunday: RHP Josh Grosz (4-5, 5.65) vs. RHP Austin Odell (8-2, 3.82)

About The Colonials
George Washington enters the season having been slotted 10th of 12 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Colonials went 22-30 overall and 10-14 in league play in 2022 and return top hitter Steve DiTomaso who batted .332 with 11 doubles, three triples, six home runs and eight stolen bases. George Washington will have to replace Harrison Cohen on the mound after the second team all-conference selection and Friday night starter compiled a 7-7 record, 3.92 earned run average and struck out 93 batters against 28 walks in 87.1 innings of work a year ago. The Colonials hit .285 as a team in 2022 while the pitching staff twirled a 5.43 ERA with 382 strikeouts.

The George Washington Series
East Carolina leads the series with George Washington by an 11-3 margin, though the teams have not faced off since the 2000 campaign when the Pirates swept the Colonials at Harrington Field in Greenville. ECU holds a 7-1 home record versus George Washington with the lone loss occurring Feb. 27, 1993 by a 2-0 score.

In Season-Opening Series
East Carolina has won five of eight season-opening series since 2015. Oddly, each three-game set has ended in a sweep. The Pirates have recorded clean sweeps over Longwood (2016), Western Carolina (2018), Radford (2019), William & Mary (2020) and Rhode Island (2021) while falling to Virginia (2015), Ole Miss (2017) and Bryant (2022).

RPI Examination
ECU owns the second-best average RPI in the nation since 2018, finishing 12th in 2018, seventh in 2019, 13th in 2021 and eighth in 2022. The Pirates' average mark of 10.0 is behind only Stanford (5.8).

Individual Notables (Prior to 2023)
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Has been part of 13 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … Guided ECU to six NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 Greenville Regional host), four Super Regional appearances, three-straight American Athletic Conference regular season titles and three AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 304-151-1 (.665) overall record … Under Godwin's direction, 20 players have earned All-America status, 23 have been NCAA All-Regional selections, 33 have been named all-conference (26 first teamers) and 14 have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams … A four-time AAC Coach-of-the-Year selection (2015, 2019, 2021, 2022), 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.

Cam Clonch: Started 32 of 48 games played (26/DH, 5/1B, 1/LF) … Hit. 283 (32-for-113) with 21 runs scored, four doubles and six home runs … Tallied a .478 on base percentage … Produced five multi-hit and multi-RBI efforts … Notched three sac flies and one sac bunt … Hit .220 (11-for-50) in American Athletic Conference play with three doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI … The Pirates were 19-7 when he started as the designated hitter … Did not commit an error in 45 defensive chances as one of five ECU players with a perfect fielding percentage (min. 10 chances).

Josh Grosz: 2022 All-American Athletic Conference Second Team ... Appeared in 25 games with 11 starts ... Compiled a 4-5 record, 5.65 earned run average and struck out 61 batters against 19 walks in 57.1 innings ... Started three games in American Athletic Conference play, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 16.2 frames ... Put together a 3.38 ERA and collected seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings and two starts during the postseason ... Produced a 3.2 strikeout to walk ratio.

Lane Hoover: Started 66 of 67 games played (63/LF, 3/RF) … One of three Pirates to play in all 67 games (Worrell/Makarewicz) ... Led the squad with a .341 (87-for-255) batting average to go along with 55 runs scored, 15 doubles, two triples and 35 RBI … Tied for first on the club in doubles, walks drawn (35) while pacing the team in on base percentage (.423), sac bunts (10) and stolen bases (12 of 19) … Recorded the eighth-most at bats in a single season in program history ... Moved into seventh on the ECU career chart in sacrifices (30) ... Slotted 22nd nationally in sac bunts and was the 23rd-toughest batter to strike out … Started all 24 American Athletic Conference games, hitting .351 (34-for-97) with 19 runs scored, seven doubles and 15 RBI … Ranked second among AAC players in sac bunts, third in hits and runs scored and fourth in batting average … Started all three games of the NCAA Greenville Super Regional, batting .308 (4-for-13) with three runs scored … Lone player on the team to have more walks than strikeouts (20) … Committed just two errors all season in 118 defensive chances to finish the campaign with a .983 fielding percentage … Notched 24 multi-hit and eight multi-RBI efforts.

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart: 2022 Freshman All-American Team (D1Baseball) ... 2022 NCAA Greenville All-Regional Team ... 2022 American Athletic Conference Championship Most Outstanding Player ... 2022 AAC Conference Championship All-Tournament Teeam .... Started 62 of 64 games played (45/RF, 17/DH) … Hit .330 (77-for-233) to rank third on the team … Tallied a team-best 65 RBI to go along with 44 runs scored, 10 doubles, 13 home runs, 16 walks, six stolen bases and a .549 slugging percentage … Also tied for the club lead with six sacrifice flies … Ranked in the top five all time for ECU freshmen in single-season games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, batting average, RBI, home runs, total bases (128) and stolen bases ... Started all 24 American Athletic Conference games, batting .341 (31-for-91) with 19 runs scored, five doubles, four home runs and seven walks drawn … Hit .360 (9-for-25) in the postseason with four runs scored and 13 RBI … Produced 24 multi-hit and a squad second-best 19 multi-RBI efforts … Turned in a .417 (5-for-12) batting average in the Greenville Super Regional while registering three runs scored, a home run and eight RBI.

Alec Makarewicz: 2022 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team ... One of three Pirates to play and start in all 67 games (Bryson Worrell/Jake Agnos), setting the program single-season record ... Made 64 starts at third base and three in left field ... Tied for the team lead in doubles (15) ... Hit .270 (67-for-248) with 52 runs scored, 11 home runs, 45 RBI and 28 walks drawn ... Upped his batting average to .297 (27-for-91) in American Athletic Conference play, starting all 24 games while adding 19 runs scored, seven doubles, five home runs, 21 RBI and 11 walks drawn ... Started every game of the postseason ... Tallied 19 multi-hit and 13 multi-RBI efforts.

Josh Moylan: Started 58 of 59 games played (57/1B, 1/DH) ... Hit .221 (42-for-190) with 31 runs scored, 11 doubles, a team-high four triples, six home runs, 27 RBI and a squad-best 35 walks drawn ... Played and started in 22 American Athletic Conference contests ... Went 14-for-33 (.424) when leading off an inning ... Garnered seven hits in 10 at bats with a runner on third and less than two outs ... Advanced runners at a 46.7-percent rate (56-120) ... Produced nine two-out RBI ... Notched eight multi-hit and four multi-RBI efforts ... Tallied game-winning RBI in victories over Memphis (May 7) and Houston (May 19) as well as in game one of the NCAA Greenville Super Regional triumph over Texas (June 10)

Garrett Saylor: 2022 All-American Athletic Conference Second Team ... Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (March 14, 2022) ... Appeared in 39 games with two starts ... Compiled a 6-3 record with a 5.01 earned run average and 108 strikeouts against 23 walks in 79 innings ... Paced the club in appearances, saves (5), innings pitched and strikeouts ... Went 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play, fanning 33 batters in 22.2 frames with three saves ... Led the league in strikeouts and appearances ... One of two AAC pitchers to allow no triples the entire season ... Slotted second nationally in appearances, 24th in strikeouts per nine innings (12.30) and 36th in total strikeouts ... Set the ECU single-season record for appearances while finishing the campaign ranked second in relief appearances (37) and seventh in strikeouts ... Moved into third on the Pirate career list in strikeouts per nine innings (11.60) and 10th in relief appearances (71) ... Made four appearances in the postseason, striking out 12 batters in 10.1 frames.

Carter Spivey: 2022 Collegiate Baseball All-America Third Team ... 2022 NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Finalist ... 2022 American Athletic Conference Pitcher-of-the Year ... 2022 ABCA All-Atlantic Region Second Team ... 2022 All-AAC First Team ... 2022 All-NCAA Greenville Regional Team .... Appeared in 35 games with two starts … Compiled a sparkling 8-0 record and 2.83 earned run average with 76 strikeouts against 19 walks in 76.1 innings of work … Tied for the club lead with five saves … Limited opposing batters to a .245 average … Ranked eighth nationally in appearances, 47th in victories and 54th in ERA ... Appeared in 10 AAC contests, putting together a 5-0 record and 1.91 ERA to go along with 23 strikeouts in 28.1 frames ... Paced the American Athletic Conference in earned run average, victories, earned runs allowed (20) and doubles allowed (6) while slotting second in appearances and fourth in opposing batting average ... Tied for the East Carolina single-season record for winning percentage (1.000) and was third in appearances … Moved into seventh on the program career chart in fewest hits allowed (105) … Was 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in the NCAA Greenville Regional, adding seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched as well as a .214 opposing batting average ... Tabbed the ECU Jungle Pitching MVP.

Jacob Starling: 2022 All-American Athletic Conference Second Team ... Started 47 of 50 games played, all at second base … Hit .243 (35-for-144) with 34 runs scored, five doubles, six home runs, 31 RBI and 25 walks drawn … Started all 24 American Athletic Conference games at second base, batting .237 (18-for-76) with 20 runs scored, two doubles, two home runs and 16 RBI … Excelled in the postseason, hitting .381 (8-for-21) with two home runs, six RBI, .714 slugging percentage and 1.250 OPS … Batted .455 (5-for-11) and .300 (3-for-10) respectively in the NCAA Greenville Regional and Super Regional … Was hit by a pitch nine times – the second-highest mark on the team … Notched nine multi-hit and 10 multi-RBI efforts.

Trey Yesavage: Appeared in 34 games, all out of the bullpen ... Compiled a 1-0 record and 4.50 earned run average with 45 strikeouts against 19 walks in 26.0 innings ... Also notched two saves ... Finished the campaign tied for fourth in program history in single-season appearances while tying for first in all-time single-season freshman appearances ... Slotted 10th nationally and third in the American Athletic Conference in appearances ... Excelled in league play, putting together a 1-0 record and 2.40 ERA with 23 strikeouts and 13 walks in 15.0 frames ... Pitched in five contests during the postseason.

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Players Mentioned

Cam Clonch

Josh Grosz

Lane Hoover

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart

Jake Kuchmaner

Alec Makarewicz

Josh Moylan

Garrett Saylor

Carter Spivey

Jacob Starling

Carson Whisenhunt

Bryson Worrell

Trey Yesavage

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