Friday, February 23
Chapel Hill, N.C.
5:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
at
North Carolina
No. 11 ECU Challenges No. 15 North Carolina
February 22, 2024 | Baseball
| Games 5-7: No. 11 East Carolina vs. No. 15 North Carolina | |
| Coverage | February 23: 5:00 p.m. in Chapel Hill \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch February 24: 2:00 p.m. in Fayetteville \\\ Live Stats February 25: 2:00 p.m. in Greenville \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Radio: 94.3 The Game |
| Location: | Friday: Boshamer Stadium | Saturday: Segra Stadium | Sunday: Clark-LeClair Stadium |
| Official Web Sites: | East Carolina | North Carolina |
| Game Notes: | East Carolina | North Carolina | The American Weekly Release |
| Statistics: | East Carolina | North Carolina |
| Baseball Central: | Media Center | Roster | Schedule/Results | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard | Weekly Rankings | National Stat Leaders |
| Social Media: | ECUBaseball (Twitter) | ecu_baseball (Instagram) | East Carolina Baseball (Facebook) |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – One of the top non-conference series of the early collegiate baseball season takes place this weekend as No. 11 East Carolina faces off with No. 15 North Carolina in a traveling set that begins Friday (5 p.m.) in Chapel Hill at Boshamer Stadium, continues Saturday (2 p.m.) in Fayetteville at Segra Stadium and concludes Sunday (2 p.m.) in Greenville from a sold-out Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
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Friday's game will stream live via ACC Network Extra while Sunday's finale can be seen on ESPN+. No video stream is available for Saturday's contest.
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ECU (3-1) held a lead in the eighth inning at Campbell Tuesday evening, but the Camels rallied with two runs in the home half of the frame to register a 7-6 victory at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek. Justin Wilcoxen and Dixon Williams tallied a pair of hits each while Carter Cunningham chipped in with a pair of RBI.
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East Carolina out-hit Campbell 8-6 but left 11 on base and committed a pair of errors as only three of the Camels' runs ended up earned. The Pirate pitching staff also stuck out double figures for the fourth-straight game, punching out 13 Campbell batters.
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ECU is batting a collective .324 with 44 hits, six doubles, six home runs, 26 walks drawn and 10 stolen bases. The Pirates also sport an American Athletic Conference best 1.29 earned run average with 50 strikeouts against 14 walks in 35.0 innings of work. Jacob Jenkins-Cowart is hitting a club-best .438 over four games thus far, an average that includes three doubles and two home runs. Meanwhile, Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman has compiled 12 strikeouts in five innings of work to go along with a spotless 0.00 ERA.
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Projected Weekend Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Trey Yesavage (1-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. LHP Folger Boaz (1-0, 1.80 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Zach Root (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Ben Peterson (0-0, 10.80 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Jake Hunter (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Olin Johnson (0-0, 3.38 ERA)
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About North Carolina
The Tar Heels enter the series with a 4-0 record after picking up an Opening Weekend sweep of Wagner and an 8-7 win over Elon on Tuesday. Casey Cook is hitting a team-best .625 (10-for-16) with six runs scored and nine RBI. North Carolina is hitting .362 as a team with 54 base knocks, seven doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 40 walks drawn and 13 stolen bases. The Tar Heel pitching unit sports a 4.00 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 22 walks in 36.0 innings.
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The North Carolina Series
North Carolina leads the series with East Carolina by a 54-34 margin. The Pirates won two of three against the Tar Heels in 2023 by splitting a pair of games in Greenville and picking up a victory in Chapel Hill.
40 Somethings
East Carolina won 47 games in 2023, marking its fifth-straight campaign of eclipsing the 40-victory plateau. The Pirates own the second longest active streak nationally, trailing only Southern Miss (seven).
Winning With Regularity
ECU has claimed the last four AAC regular season titles. Campbell (Big South) and Wright State (Horizon League) are the only two programs in the country with longer streaks while Connecticut (Big East) and Fairfield (Metro) sit on three-straight conference regular season championships.
RPI Examination
East Carolina owns the fourth-best average RPI in the nation since 2018, finishing 12th in 2018, seventh in 2019, 13th in 2021, eighth in 2022 and 26th in 2023. The Pirates' average mark of 13.2 ranks behind just Stanford (7.8), Vanderbilt (11.0) and Arkansas (11.8).
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Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 354 career wins and is second on the East Carolina career coaching wins list ... Has been part of 14 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … Guided ECU to seven NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 Greenville Regional host), four Super Regional appearances, four-straight American Athletic Conference regular season titles and three AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 351-170-1 (.673) overall record … Under Godwin's direction, 13 players have earned All-America status, 18 have been NCAA All-Regional selections, 40 have been named all-conference (25 first teamers) and 22 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.
Joey Berini: Has started all four games at shortstop ... Posted a hit in each contest of the Rider series ... Drove in a run in Saturday's 7-0 victory over the Broncs.
Bristol Carter: Made his collegiate debut in the season opener ... Posted a pair of hits, including a double, and two runs scored in the 16-2 victory over Rider ... Scored a run at Campbell.
Cam Clonch: Started at first base in the Rider series finale, finishing the contest with three RBI via a three-run home run ... Went 2-for-2 in the season-opening 16-2 victory ... Drew a walk at Campbell.
Carter Cunningham: Has started three games at first base and the other at left field ... Leads the club with three multi-RBI performances ... Went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI in the season-opening 16-2 win over Rider ... Notched another pair of hits and RBI in Saturday's contest, including his first home run of the campaign ... Drove in a pair of runs at Campbell.
Jake Hunter: Collected his first win of the season on the mound Sunday in East Carolina's 7-0 victory over Rider, tossing five scoreless innings and allowing just one hit while striking out six batters.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart: Has started all four games at right field ... Leads the club in batting average ... Named the AAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 19 ... Hit .500 (6-for-12) with six runs scored, five RBI, three doubles, two home runs and a pair of stolen bases in the Rider series.
Ryley Johnson: Has started all four games at center field ... Scored two runs and notched an RBI in the season-opening 16-2 win over Rider ... Swiped a pair of bags and drew two walks at Campbell ... Leads the club with five stolen bases in five attempts.
Luke Nowak: Has started three games in left field and one at the designated hitter position ... Notched a hit in the first two games of the Rider series and drove in a run in the season-opening 16-2 win ... Drew a pair of walks at Campbell.
Zach Root: Collected his first win of the season on the mound Saturday in East Carolina's 7-0 victory over Rider, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings and notching a career-high seven strikeouts.
Jacob Starling: Has started all four games at second base ... Posted three hits, five runs scored, three RBI and two home runs in the Rider series ... Went yard both Saturday and Sunday as the Pirates knocked off the Broncs 7-0 in both contests ... Drove in a run and drew two walks at Campbell.
Justin Wilcoxen: Has started three games at catcher and one at designated hitter ... Posted a hit and run scored in both games Friday and Saturday of the Rider series ... Threw out his first runner of the season in Sunday's series finale ... Notched a pair of hits and drove in a run at Campbell.
Dixon Williams: Has started all four games at third base ... Hit .375 (3-for-8) during the Rider series while scoring three runs and compiling four RBI ... Has drawn five walks against no strikeouts ... Drove in a pair of runs in the season-opening 16-2 victory ... Notched two hits and scored two runs at Campbell.
Trey Yesavage: Collected his first win of the season on the mound in Friday's opener, tossing four innings and allowing just one earned run on one hit with eight strikeouts and two walks.
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Looking Ahead
East Carolina travels to Norfolk Tuesday (Feb. 27) for a midweek clash with host Old Dominion. First pitch from Bud Matheny Ballpark is set for 3 p.m.
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