ECU Opens At No. 13 In NCBWA Preseason Poll

DALLAS (NCBWA) – East Carolina posted its fourth preseason national ranking of 2024 Thursday afternoon as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association placed the Pirates 13th in its preseason poll.

ECU was recently slotted No. 11 by D1Baseball, No. 14 by Baseball America and No. 17 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. ECU 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.

East Carolina, which annually schedules quality opposition in non-conference play, will encounter three other squads that appeared on the list with a single home contest against No. 14 Duke, a three-game traveling weekend series versus No. 16 North Carolina and a home and home set with No. 18 NC State.

Just over two weeks 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 NCBWA Preseason Top 25 Poll
1. Wake Forest (54-12) – College World Series
2. LSU (54-17) – College World Series Champion
3. Florida (54-17) – College World Series Runner Up
4. Arkansas (43-18) – Fayetteville Regional
5. Tennessee (44-22) – College World Series
6. TCU (44-24) – College World Series
7. Vanderbilt (42-20) Nashville Regional
8. Oregon State (41-20) – Baton Rouge Regional
9. Texas (42-22) – Stanford Super Regional
10. Texas A&M (38-27) – Stanford Regional
11. Virginia (50-15) – College World Series
12. Clemson (44-19) – Clemson Regional
13. East Carolina (47-19) – Charlottesville Regional
14. Duke (39-24) – Conway Regional
15. South Carolina (42-21) – Gainesville Super Regional
16. North Carolina (36-24) – Terre Haute Regional
17. Stanford (44-20) – College World Series
18. NC State (36-21) – Columbia Regional
19. Coastal Carolina (42-21) – Conway Regional
20. Texas Tech (41-23) – Gainesville Regional
21. Iowa (44-16) – Terre Haute Regional
22. UCLA (28-24-1) – No Postseason
23. Alabama (43-21) – Winston-Salem Super Regional
24. UC Santa Barbara (35-20) – No Postseason
25. Auburn (34-23-1) – Auburn Regional
26. Oral Roberts (52-14) – College World Series
27. Kansas State (35-24) – No Postseason
28. Northeastern (44-16) – Winston-Salem Regional
29. Oklahoma State (41-20) – Stillwater Regional
30. Southern Miss (46-20) – Hattiesburg Super Regional

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

Trey Yesavage

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