No. 10 East Carolina Set For Tuesday Contest At Elon

Game 19: No. 10 East Carolina at Elon
Coverage	March 19th: 4:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Stream: FloBaseball Radio: 94.3 The Game (Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton)
Location:	Elon, N.C. \| Latham Park (5,100)
Official Websites:	East Carolina \| Elon
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| Elon
Statistics:	East Carolina \| Elon
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. 10 East Carolina plays the first of four-straight road games Tuesday evening, heading to Elon for a midweek non-conference matchup at Latham Park. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

As always, Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton will handle the radio broadcast on 94.3 The Game. The contest will also stream live though FloBaseball (subscription required).

The Pirates have won seven in a row following a home weekend sweep of Columbia. ECU also knocked off UNCW on the road in extra innings last Tuesday. East Carolina owns a 4-3 record in true road games, sweeping Liberty in Lynchburg as well as picking up the aforementioned victory over the Seahawks in Wilmington. The Pirates have fallen to Campbell, North Carolina and Old Dominion away from Greenville with each game determined by one run.

Individually, Carter Cunningham continues to pace the offensive efforts with a .452 batting average, six home runs, 25 RBI and a current 18-game hitting streak. He leads the American Athletic Conference in batting average, slugging percentage (.808), runs scored (26), hits (33) and RBI while slotting 10th nationally in hits per game (1.83), 16th in batting average and 20th in total hits.

Collectively, East Carolina is hitting .300 with 29 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs, 84 walks drawn and 25 stolen bases. The Pirates rank first in the league in fielding percentage and second in batting average.

ECU's pitching staff has also held strong as it leads the American Athletic Conference in earned run average (3.60) and is second in strikeouts (215). Opposing hitters are batting just .198 as the Pirates have allowed a league-low 116 hits in 162.1 innings. East Carolina continues to dwell among the NCAA Division I leaders in several categories, including WHIP (2nd/1.08), hits allowed per nine innings (3rd/6.43), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4th/3.64), strikeouts per nine innings (8th/11.9) and earned run average (12th/3.60). Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman has been stellar out of the bullpen, ranking third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (18.31) as well as 22nd in strikeouts (40).

Projected Pitching Matchup
RHP Chris Kahler (0-0, 6.10 ERA, 10.1 IP) vs. LHP Itai Spinoza (0-1, 9.64 ERA, 4.2 IP)

About Elon
The Phoenix (9-10) won two of three over Minnesota last weekend while also owning series victories over the New Jersey Institute of Technology and UMass. Elon has played 15 games at Latham Park, sporting an 8-7 record in those contests. Kenny Mallory Jr. is hitting .435 to pace a Phoenix offense that is batting .296 as a team with 40 doubles and 25 home runs to go along with 105 walks drawn. The Elon pitching staff checks in with a 6.32 ERA, 162 strikeouts and 94 walks in 168.0 innings of work.

The Elon Series
East Carolina leads the all-time series with Elon by a 58-34-1 margin. The Pirates defeated the Phoenix 5-1 in the teams' only meeting last year at Latham Park. ECU has won nine of the last 10 between the institutions and 15 of the last 16 matchups in Elon.

Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 365 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.

Danny Beal: Tied with Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman for the team lead in appearances (10) ... Tossed 3.2 scoreless innings and surrendered just one hit while racking up four strikeouts in the Liberty series, collecting his first win and second save of the campaign Saturday and Sunday respectively ... Earned the win in the series finale versus Columbia by tossing 2.1 scoreless relief innings.
Joey Berini: Has started all 18 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) ... Registered three RBI in the series opener against Columbia.
Bristol Carter: Made his collegiate debut in the season opener ... Has started 10 games in left field ... Posted a pair of hits, including a double, and two runs scored in the 16-2 victory over Rider ... 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 ... Went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, a triple and an RBI in the series opener at Liberty ... Notched two hits, two runs scored and two RBI in the series opener against Columbia.
Carter Cunningham: Named the AAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 26 ... Currently owns an 18-game hitting streak ... Leads the American Athletic Conference in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI and OPS ... Has started 16 games at first base and two at left field ... Paces the club with eight multi-RBI performances and slots second in in multi-hit efforts (10) ... 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 ... Tallied a career-high four hits in the 7-4 win over then No. 15 North Carolina in Fayetteville ... Went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, four RBI and two home runs versus Southeastern Louisiana ... Collected a career-high five RBI in the series opener at Liberty ... Recorded two hits and scored three runs in the victory at UNCW.
Jake Hunter: Collected his first win of the season on the mound 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: Has started all 18 games at right field ... Has recorded multi-hit efforts in five of his last seven games ... Leads the club in multi-hit performances (12) and is second in multi-RBI efforts (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 ... Logged three hits and drove in three runs against Southeastern Louisiana ... Collected four hits and three runs scored in the series at Liberty ... Recorded five hits, four runs scored and five RBI in the Columbia series.
Ryley Johnson: Has started all 18 games at center field and has hit leadoff in every contest ... Paces the club and American Conference with 10 stolen bases in 12 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 ... Clubbed a pair of home runs and stole three bases in the Columbia series.
Chris Kahler: Has fanned 14 batters in 10.1 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 team in strikeouts (40) ... Tied with Danny Beal for the team lead in appearances (10) ... Notched a career-high seven strikeouts in three innings at Campbell before tallying seven more in four scoreless innings versus Purdue ... Logged 3.1 scoreless frames in the Liberty series, racking up seven strikeouts against one walk and earning his first save of the campaign in the weekend finale ... Recorded five strikeouts in two innings of work at UNCW.
Luke Nowak: Has started six games in left field and four 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 ... Ranks second in the league in ERA ... 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 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 ... Turned in another quality start against Cal State Fullerton, surrendering just one run over seven innings while striking out a career-high 10 batters against one walk ... Tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in a win over Columbia.
Jacob Starling: Has started all 18 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 ... Logged three RBI in the series finale at Liberty ... Went 2-for-3 with two runs scored at UNCW.
Justin Wilcoxen: Has started 13 games at catcher and four at designated hitter ... 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 ... Registered three hits, three runs scored, two RBI and two home runs versus Southeastern Louisiana - his first career multi-home run effort ... Tied his career high with four hits at UNCW ... Logged three hits and four RBI in the Columbia series finale.
Dixon Williams: Has started 17 games at third base ... Hit .375 (3-for-8) during the Rider series while scoring three runs and compiling four RBI ... Has drawn a team-best nine walks ... Drove in a pair of runs in the season-opening 16-2 victory ... Notched two hits and scored two runs at Campbell ... Clubbed his first career home run against Purdue ... Tallied a career-high three RBI in the 8-0 win over Columbia.
Trey Yesavage: Leads the American Conference in earned run average, opposing batting average and strikeouts ... 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 ... Went a career-long eight scoreless innings in the win over Purdue, fanning 11 hitters and scattering two hits … Struck out nine over six innings while allowing just one run in the series opener at Liberty ... Struck out 10 batters and allowed just one earned run in six innings versus Columbia.

Looking Ahead: East Carolina officially begins defense of its American Athletic Conference regular season title March 22-24 with a three-game series at league newcomer UTSA.

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Players Mentioned

Danny Beal

Joey Berini

Bristol Carter

Carter Cunningham

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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