No. 11 ECU Hosts 21st Annual Keith LeClair Classic

Games 9-11: 21st Annual Keith LeClair Classic
Coverage	March 1: vs. Purdue \\\ 2:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch March 2: vs. Cal State Fullerton \\\ 3:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch March 3: vs. Southeastern Louisiana \\\ 1:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Stream: ESPN+ Radio: 94.3 The Game (Friday and Saturday) and 103.7 WTIB (Sunday)
Location:	Greenville, N.C. \| Clark-LeClair Stadium (5,000)
Official Websites:	East Carolina \| Purdue \| Cal State Fullerton \| Southeastern Louisiana
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| Purdue \| Cal State Fullerton \| Southeastern Louisiana
Statistics:	East Carolina \| Purdue \| Cal State Fullerton \| Southeastern Louisiana
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 returns home to Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium this weekend for the 21st Annual Keith LeClair Classic. The Pirates are set to welcome Purdue, Cal State Fullerton and Southeastern Louisiana to Greenville for the three-day event.

ECU faces off with the Boilermakers at 2 p.m. Friday before taking on the Titans Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and the Lions Sunday at 1 p.m. All three of the Pirates' contests will stream live on ESPN+ with Patrick Johnson and Mike Mullis on the call Friday and Saturday. As always, Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton will handle the radio broadcast locally on 94.3 The Game. Sunday's affair will air on 103.7 WTIB.

The Pirates traveled up to Norfolk Tuesday and fell to Old Dominion by a 6-5 score when Steven Meier hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. East Carolina received a solid relief effort from Jackson DiLorenzo, Chris Kahler and Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman who combined to hold the Monarchs to one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks in the final 5.1 innings. Carter Cunningham and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart also got it done at the plate with a pair of two-hit performances.

Collectively, ECU is hitting .311 with 14 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 39 walks drawn and 13 stolen bases. Jenkins-Cowart paces the club with a .485 batting average and has registered nine extra-base hits (six doubles and three home runs) as well as 13 RBI. The Pirate pitching staff checks in with a 3.37 earned run average with 95 strikeouts and 28 walks in 69.1 innings. The weekend rotation of Trey Yesavage, Zach Root and Jake Hunter has been especially effective so far, having surrendered just three earned runs in 32 frames with 45 strikeouts against 10 walks.

In the national statistical rankings, East Carolina slots fourth in pitching shutouts (two), seventh in hits allowed per nine innings (5.84), ninth in fielding percentage (.989), 11th in pitching strikeouts per nine innings (12.3), 11th in WHIP (1.05), 16th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.39) and 26th in earned run average. Individually, Yesavage is 11th in total strikeouts (19) while Hunter is fifth in hits allowed per nine innings (1.74) and Jenkins-Cowart is eighth in doubles.

The friendly confines of Clark-LeClair Stadium have been just that so far as the Pirates boast a 4-0 home ledger that includes a season-opening sweep of Rider and the thrilling 10-9 walk-off victory over then No. 15 North Carolina before a facility-record crowd of 6,017.

Purdue (6-2) faced off with George Mason in Holly Springs, N.C. last weekend and took three of four from the Patriots. Meanwhile, Cal State Fullerton (4-3) followed up its season-opening series win at Stanford with a series loss to Fresno State and a midweek win over Loyola Marymount. Southeastern Louisiana (6-3) used four pitchers to combine for a no-hitter Wednesday in a 12-0 win over Mississippi Valley State. The Lions also possess series wins over UAB and Tarleton State.

Projected Pitching Matchups
Friday vs. Purdue: RHP Trey Yesavage (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 10.0 IP) vs. LHP Jordan Morales (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.1 IP)
Saturday vs. Cal State Fullerton: LHP Zach Root (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.2 IP) vs. LHP Mikiah Negrete (1-0, 5.59 ERA, 9.2 IP)
Sunday vs. Southeastern Louisiana: RHP Jake Hunter (1-0, 0.87 ERA, 10.1 IP) vs. RHP Will Kinzeler (1-0, 10.50 ERA, 6.0 IP)

East Carolina in the LeClair Classic
ECU owns 12 LeClair Classic titles, most recently claiming the 2022 crown by defeating Indiana State, Michigan and Maryland. The Pirates sport a 45-15 record in the event, including respective 1-0 and 0-1 marks against 2024 participants Southeastern Louisiana and Purdue.

The Purdue Series
East Carolina leads the series with Purdue by a 4-3 margin. The teams last met in 2012 in Greenville as part of the Keith LeClair Classic when the Boilermakers defeated the Pirates 6-4.

The Cal State Fullerton Series
ECU has split six all-time meetings with Cal State Fullerton. In the most recent encounter, the Pirates swept the Titans by scores of 6-1, 2-0 and 12-5 in a series played March 9-11, 2007, in Greenville.

The Southeastern Louisiana Series
The all-time series between East Carolina and Southeastern Louisiana is brief, enumerating just one meeting - a 2-1 Pirate victory March 4, 2016, as part of the Keith LeClair Classic. Turner Brown provided the two-run walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth after ECU trailed 1-0 in the final frame.

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.

Joey Berini: Has started all eight 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 three 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 an eight-game hitting streak ... Has started seven games at first base and the other at left field ... Leads the club with four multi-RBI performances while slotting second in multi-hit efforts (five) ... 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 ... Went 2-for-4 with two runs scored at Old Dominion.
Jackson DiLorenzo: Has surrendered just one hit over four scoreless innings out of the bullpen ... Fanned a career-high three batters in 2.0 innings at Old Dominion.
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 10-game hitting streak ... Has started all eight games at right field ... Leads the club in batting average and multi-hit performances (six) ... 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 ... Went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, three RBI and a home run at Old Dominion.
Ryley Johnson: Has started all eight games at center field and has hit leadoff in every contest ... Paces 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.
Chris Kahler: Has fanned 10 batters in 5.2 innings of work ... Made his first start in an East Carolina uniform at Campbell, registering three strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman: Slots second on the club in strikeouts (18) ... Tied with Danny Beal for the team lead in appearances (five) ... Notched a career-high seven strikeouts in three innings at Campbell.
Luke Nowak: Has started four games in left field and three 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 RBIS.
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 eight 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 six 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 an RBI in the 7-4 win over then No. 15 North Carolina in Fayetteville.
Dixon Williams: Has started all eight 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 the season 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.

Looking Ahead
East Carolina entertains VCU for a pair of midweek contests March 5-6. Both games will stream live via ESPN+ with first pitch set for 4 p.m. both days.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Danny Beal

Joey Berini

Bristol Carter

Cam Clonch

Carter Cunningham

Jackson DiLorenzo

Jake Hunter

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart

Ryley Johnson

Chris Kahler

Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman

Luke Nowak

Jacob Starling

Justin Wilcoxen

Dixon Williams

Trey Yesavage

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