Tuesday, February 27
Norfolk, Va.
3:00 p.m.
East Carolina University
at
Old Dominion
No. 11 ECU Faces Off With ODU Tuesday In Norfolk
February 26, 2024 | Baseball
| Game 8: No. 11 East Carolina at Old Dominion | |
| Coverage | February 27: 3:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Radio: 94.3 The Game |
| Location: | Norfolk, Va. | Bud Matheny Ballpark |
| Official Web Sites: | East Carolina | Old Dominion |
| Game Notes: | East Carolina | Old Dominion | The American Weekly Release |
| Statistics: | East Carolina | Old Dominion |
| 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. – No. 11 East Carolina treks a few hours north to Norfolk Tuesday for a non-conference matchup against Old Dominion at Bud Matheny Ballpark. First pitched is slated for 3 p.m.
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UPDATE: ODU will stream the game through its official athletics website (linked above). Fans can also tune into 94.3 The Game starting at 2:45 with Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton providing the call as always.
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The Pirates captured an epic series victory over then No. 15 North Carolina over the weekend as the Tar Heels won a 2-1 pitchers' duel in Chapel Hill Friday before ECU responded with a 7-4 victory in front of 6,228 fans in Fayetteville Saturday and emerged victorious Sunday in a 10-9 slugfest before a Clark-LeClair Stadium record crowd of 6,017 with true freshman outfielder Bristol Carter walking it off in the bottom of the ninth.
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East Carolina (5-2) has certainly tested itself thus far, facing off against a trio of squads in Rider, Campbell and UNC that all participated in an NCAA Regional last season. The Pirates showed well during the second week of play, dropping a pair of airtight one-run decisions to the Camels and Tar Heels before securing the weekend series with consecutive wins over North Carolina.
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Jacob Jenkins-Cowart is hitting a club-best .483 for an ECU unit that sports an AAC-best .329 batting average. The Pirates have registered 12 doubles, eight home runs, 37 walks drawn and 12 stolen bases through seven games. East Carolina ranks second in the league in earned run average at 2.95 as the pitching staff has struck out 82 batters against just 24 walks in 61.0 innings.
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Projected Pitching Matchup
LHP Ethan Norby (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 2.0 IP) vs. LHP Blake Morgan (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)
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About Old Dominion
The Monarchs (4-3) enter Tuesday's affair having dropped two of three in a home series versus Rutgers over the weekend. Steven Meier is hitting a team-high .350 while Luke Waters has hit a pair of home runs to go along with a .286 batting average. Old Dominion is hitting .216 collectively with five doubles and four home runs. The Monarch pitching unit sports a 4.21 ERA with 63 strikeouts and 15 walks in 62.0 frames.
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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).
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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.
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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 356 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.
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Joey Berini: Has started all seven games at shortstop ... Posted a hit in each contest of the Rider series ... Drove in a run in the 7-0 win over Rider (Feb. 17).
Bristol Carter: Made his collegiate debut in the season opener ... Has started two games in left field ... Posted a pair of hits, including a double, and two runs scored in the 16-2 victory over Rider ... Scored a run at Campbell ... Provided the walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth in ECU's 10-9 win over then No. 15 North Carolina that clinched the series in front of a record Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd of 6,017.
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 ... Drove in a run in the 10-9 series-clinching win over then No. 15 North Carolina.
Carter Cunningham: Named the AAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 26 ... Currently owns a seven-game hitting streak ... Has started six games at first base and the other at left field ... Leads the club with four multi-RBI performances while slotting second in mult-hit contests (four) ... 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 the Saturday Rider contest, including his first home run of the campaign ... Drove in a pair of runs at Campbell ... Tallied a career-high four hits in the 7-4 win over then No. 15 North Carolina in Fayetteville ... Clubbed his second home run of the season in the series finale versus the Tar Heels.
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 ... Tossed 5.1 solid frames in a no decision against then No. 15 North Carolina, surrendering just one run on one hit with six strikeouts.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart: Currently owns a seven-game hitting streak ... Has started all seven games at right field ... Leads the club in batting average and multi-hit performances (five) ... 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 ... Posted at least two hits in every game of the series with then No. 15 North Carolina, rapping out three hits and driving in two runs in Sunday's 10-9 walkoff victory.
Ryley Johnson: Has started all seven games at center field ... Leads the club with six stolen bases in seven attempts ... 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 ... Tallied a pair of multi-hit efforts in the series with then No. 15 North Carolina.
Luke Nowak: Has started four games in left field and two 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 ... Clubbed his first career home run in the series finale versus then No. 15 North Carolina while adding two runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Zach Root: Named the AAC Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 26 ... 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 ... Was masterful in the middle contest of the series with then No. 15 North Carolina, throwing a career-best seven scoreless innings while matching his career high in strikeouts (seven) against no walks.
Jacob Starling: Has started all seven games at second base ... Posted three hits, five runs scored, three RBI and two home runs in the Rider series ... Drove in a run and drew two walks at Campbell ... Notched a career-high four hits in the 7-4 win over then No. 15 North Carolina in Fayetteville.
Justin Wilcoxen: Has started five games at catcher and two 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 the series finale with the Broncs ... Notched a pair of hits and drove in a run at Campbell ... Tallied two hits and a RBI in the 7-4 win over then No. 15 North Carolina in Fayetteville.
Dixon Williams: Has started all seven 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 ... Was dominant in the series opener at then No. 15 North Carolina, giving up just one earned run and striking out 11 batters against one walk in six innings pitched.
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Looking Ahead
East Carolina welcomes Purdue, Cal State Fullerton and Southeastern Louisiana to Greenville March 1-3 for the 21st annual Keith LeClair Classic.
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