ECU Tabbed 13th In USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Make it five preseason national rankings for the East Carolina baseball program as the Pirates received a No. 13 designation in the 2023 USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll released Tuesday by the organization.

The three-time defending American Athletic Conference regular season champion Pirates were slotted No. 11 by D1Baseball, No. 12 by the NCBWA, No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 24 by Baseball America in the last month as well as earning selection as the unanimous favorite in the AAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Senior RHP Carter Spivey was also named the unanimous American Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year and was joined on the league's Preseason All-Conference Team by sophomore outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart – the 2022 AAC Baseball Championship Most Outstanding Player.

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 Texas in a tense three-game Super Regional affair.

ECU is just 17 days away from opening the 2023 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 17-19) against George Washington at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. LSU (764)
2. Tennessee (741)
3. Stanford (687)
4. Texas A&M (610)
5. Florida (570)
6. Arkansas (569)
7. Ole Miss (546)
8. Oklahoma State (509)
9. Vanderbilt (501)
10. Wake Forest (497)
11. Louisville (393)
12. North Carolina (369)
13. East Carolina (355)
14. Maryland (331)
15. UCLA (330)
16. Virginia Tech (314)
17. TCU (284)
18. Miami (246)
19. Southern Miss (242)
20. Virginia (199)
21. Texas Tech (137)
22. NC State (131)
23. Oregon State (110)
24. Texas (104)
25. Oregon (74)

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 and was named the 2023 Preseason AAC Pitcher of the Year.
Spivey and Jenkins-Cowart were selected unanimously to the 2023 All-AAC Preseason Team.
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.

ECU Tabbed 13th In USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll

Players Mentioned

Cam Clonch

Lane Hoover

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart

Alec Makarewicz

Garrett Saylor

Carter Spivey

Jacob Starling

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