East Carolina Ranked No. 12 In USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina will begin the 2024 campaign as a consensus Top 17 team as the USA Today/Coaches Poll positioned the Pirates No. 12 on its preseason list Tuesday afternoon.

Preseason National Rankings: D1Baseball: 11 | USA Today/Coaches: 12 | NCBWA: 13 | Baseball America: 14 | Perfect Game: 17

ECU returns 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. The Pirates 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. 15 North Carolina and a home and home set with No. 16 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 USA Today/Coaches 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. TCU (44-24) – College World Series
6. Vanderbilt (42-20) Nashville Regional
7. Oregon State (41-20) – Baton Rouge Regional
8. Tennessee (44-22) – College World Series
9. Clemson (44-19) – Clemson Regional
10. Texas A&M (38-27) – Stanford Regional
11. Virginia (50-15) – College World Series
12. East Carolina (47-19) – Charlottesville Regional
13. Texas (42-22) – Stanford Super Regional
14. Duke (39-24) – Conway Regional
15. North Carolina (36-24) – Terre Haute Regional
16. NC State (36-21) – Columbia Regional
17. Alabama (43-21) – Winston-Salem Super Regional
T18. UC Santa Barbara (35-20) – No Postseason
T18. Coastal Carolina (42-21) – Conway Regional
20. Iowa (44-16) – Terre Haute Regional
21. South Carolina (42-21) – Gainesville Super Regional
22. Texas Tech (41-23) – Gainesville Regional
23. Stanford (44-20) – College World Series
24. UCLA (28-24-1) – No Postseason
25. Northeastern (44-16) – Winston-Salem 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).

East Carolina Ranked No. 12 In USA Today/Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll

Players Mentioned

Trey Yesavage

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