East Carolina Slotted 14th In Baseball America Preseason Top 25 Poll
January 29, 2024 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina continued to collect preseason recognition Monday morning as Baseball America positioned the Pirates at No. 14 in its Preseason Top 25 Poll. ECU was recently ranked 11th by D1Baseball and 17th by Perfect Game.
The Pirates return 20 players, including eight all-conference selections and six lineup regulars, from a 2023 squad that captured its fourth-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional finals. East Carolina put together a 47-19 record and 18-6 league mark before making a run to the title game of the AAC Baseball Championship tournament.
A handful of 2024 opponents also appeared in the poll as ECU will play a single home contest with No. 16 Duke, a weekend traveling series against No. 17 North Carolina and a home and home set versus No. 22 NC State.
With full team practices currently underway, just 18 days remain until the Pirates open the 2024 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 16-18) versus 2023 NCAA Conway Regional participant Rider from Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
2024 Baseball America Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. Wake Forest (54-12) – College World Series
2. LSU (54-17) – College World Series Champion
3. Arkansas (43-18) – Fayetteville Regional
4. Florida (54-17) – College World Series Runner Up
5. Oregon State (41-20) – Baton Rouge Regional
6. TCU (44-24) – College World Series
7. Vanderbilt (42-20) Nashville Regional
8. Tennessee (44-22) – College World Series
9. Clemson (44-19) – Clemson Regional
10. Virginia (50-15) – College World Series
11. Texas A&M (38-27) – Stanford Regional
12. South Carolina (42-21) – Gainesville Super Regional
13. Texas (42-22) – Stanford Super Regional
14. East Carolina (47-19) – Charlottesville Regional
15. Stanford (44-20) – College World Series
16. Duke (39-24) – Conway Regional
17. North Carolina (36-24) – Terre Haute Regional
18. Texas Tech (41-23) – Gainesville Regional
19. Coastal Carolina (42-21) – Conway Regional
20. Iowa (44-16) – Terre Haute Regional
21. Oklahoma State (41-20) – Stillwater Regional
22. NC State (36-21) – Columbia Regional
23. Auburn (34-23-1) – Auburn Regional
24. Northeastern (44-16) – Winston-Salem Regional
25. UC Irvine (38-17) – No Postseason
About East Carolina's 2023 Season
The Pirates return 20 players, including eight all-conference selections and six lineup regulars, from a 2023 squad that captured its fourth-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional finals. East Carolina put together a 47-19 record and 18-6 league mark before making a run to the title game of the AAC Baseball Championship tournament.
A handful of 2024 opponents also appeared in the poll as ECU will play a single home contest with No. 16 Duke, a weekend traveling series against No. 17 North Carolina and a home and home set versus No. 22 NC State.
Checking in at #14 in the @baseballamerica preseason poll 🤟🏴☠️#PIRATES pic.twitter.com/5oQv5YEB6Y
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) January 29, 2024
With full team practices currently underway, just 18 days remain until the Pirates open the 2024 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 16-18) versus 2023 NCAA Conway Regional participant Rider from Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
2024 Baseball America Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. Wake Forest (54-12) – College World Series
2. LSU (54-17) – College World Series Champion
3. Arkansas (43-18) – Fayetteville Regional
4. Florida (54-17) – College World Series Runner Up
5. Oregon State (41-20) – Baton Rouge Regional
6. TCU (44-24) – College World Series
7. Vanderbilt (42-20) Nashville Regional
8. Tennessee (44-22) – College World Series
9. Clemson (44-19) – Clemson Regional
10. Virginia (50-15) – College World Series
11. Texas A&M (38-27) – Stanford Regional
12. South Carolina (42-21) – Gainesville Super Regional
13. Texas (42-22) – Stanford Super Regional
14. East Carolina (47-19) – Charlottesville Regional
15. Stanford (44-20) – College World Series
16. Duke (39-24) – Conway Regional
17. North Carolina (36-24) – Terre Haute Regional
18. Texas Tech (41-23) – Gainesville Regional
19. Coastal Carolina (42-21) – Conway Regional
20. Iowa (44-16) – Terre Haute Regional
21. Oklahoma State (41-20) – Stillwater Regional
22. NC State (36-21) – Columbia Regional
23. Auburn (34-23-1) – Auburn Regional
24. Northeastern (44-16) – Winston-Salem Regional
25. UC Irvine (38-17) – No Postseason
About East Carolina's 2023 Season
- Captured its fourth-straight American Athletic Conference regular season championship, finishing the campaign with 47 victories - the second most in a single season in program history.
- Made its seventh NCAA Regional appearance under head coach Cliff Godwin (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023).
- Reached the regional finals for the fourth-straight season (2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023).
- Notched its fifth-straight 40-win season (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023).
- Placed a program single-season record 11 players on the All-American Athletic Conference Teams (three first team, eight second team and one all-freshman team).
- Had a student-athlete named the AAC Player or Pitcher of the Week eight times (four player/four pitcher).
- Set the AAC single-season records for run scored (486), hits (668), walks drawn (317), RBI (445) and batters struck out (663).
- Set the program single-season record for walks drawn and batters struck out.
- Posted single season program top-10 marks in runs scored (fifth), RBI (fifth), doubles (fifth/131), hits (sixth), stolen bases (seventh/87), triples (10th/14) and home runs (10th/75).
- Slotted in the Top 30 nationally in 13 statistical categories.
- Was ranked in at least one of the various Top 25 polls every week of the season.
- Finished 13th nationally in average attendance (4,402) as well as 14th in total attendance (149,652) - both single season program records.
- Set eight Cliff Godwin era single-season highs in eight statistical categories (runs scored, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, walks drawn, stolen bases and batters struck out).
- Won 12 of 14 weekend series while recording nine sweeps, including five in American Athletic Conference play.
- Captured its eighth consecutive AAC and ABCA Team Excellence Awards and have posted the highest GPA of any league outfit eight years running.
- Trey Yesavage was named a Second Team All-American by four publications (Baseball America, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game).
Players Mentioned
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