No. 15 ECU Welcomes UNCW To Greenville Tuesday

Game 23: UNCW at No. 15 East Carolina
Coverage	March 26th: 6:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Stream: ESPN+ (Evan Budrovich and Mike Mullis) Radio: 94.3 The Game (Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton)
Location:	Greenville, N.C. \| Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium
Official Websites:	East Carolina \| UNCW
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| UNCW
Statistics:	East Carolina \| UNCW
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Social Media:	ECUBaseball (Twitter) \| ecu_baseball (Instagram) \| East Carolina Baseball (Facebook)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 15 East Carolina returns home Tuesday evening to complete its home-and-home season series with UNCW. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Lewis Field inside Clark LeClair Stadium.

As always, Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton will handle the radio broadcast on 94.3 The Game. The contest will also stream live through ESPN+ with Evan Budrovich and Mike Mullis on the call.

The Pirates (16-6) split four road games last week, defeating Elon 10-1 on Tuesday before dropping two of three to American Athletic Conference newcomer UTSA in San Antonio. There's no need to reach for the panic button, though. Despite the series loss to the Roadrunners, ECU is just one game back of first place in the very early league standings as no team swept its opening set. East Carolina also checks in at No. 27 in the latest iteration of the NCAA RPI ranking.

Ryan McCrystal is swinging a hot bat as of late, leading the team with a .417 batting average since the start of the Columbia series. Chris Kahler, Tuesday's projected starter, also gave the Pirates a great outing at Elon, allowing just one run and two hits over a season-long five innings of work. Additionally, Carter Cunningham paces the American Conference in both batting average and total bases while ranking 28th nationally in hits and 39th in batting average.

Collectively, East Carolina is hitting .301 with 33 doubles, four triples, 26 home runs, 97 walks drawn and 27 stolen bases. The Pirates rank second in the league in batting average and earned run average (3.71) while slotting first in fielding percentage (.981).

ECU's pitching staff continues to be a bright spot as it leads the American Athletic Conference in opposing batting average (.214) and fewest hits allowed (154). The Pirates also dwell among the NCAA Division I leaders in several categories, including WHIP (4th/1.13), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4th/3.62), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (8th/7.06), fewest walks allowed per nine innings (8th/3.12), earned run average (12th) and fielding percentage (16th). Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman has been a reliable option out of the bullpen, ranking third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (17.33).

Projected Pitching Matchup
RHP Chris Kahler (1-0, 4.70 ERA, 15.1 IP) vs. LHP Matt Gaither (0-0, 10.80 ERA, 1.2 IP)

About UNCW
The Seahawks (14-10) make the trip to Greenville with a head of steam having swept Elon at home to begin Coastal Athletic Association play over the weekend. Tanner Thach is hitting a team-best .352 for a UNCW offense that bats .263 collectively with 33 doubles, three triples and 36 home runs. The pitching staff sports a 4.79 ERA with 231 strikeouts and 130 walks in 214.0 innings of work.

The UNCW Series
East Carolina leads its long-time series with UNCW by an 83-64 margin after defeating the Seahawks 8-7 in 10 innings a couple of weeks ago in Wilmington. The Seahawks swept the season series in 2023, defeating the Pirates 8-5 in Wilmington and 9-3 in Greenville.

Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 367 career victories 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: Leads the team in appearances (13) ... 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 ... Threw two scoreless frames at Elon ... Collected his third save of the season in the 14-10 victory at UTSA.
Joey Berini: Has started all 22 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 ... Clubbed his first home run of the season in the series finale at UTSA.
Bristol Carter: Made his collegiate debut in the season opener ... Has started 13 games in left field and the other in center ... 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 ... Went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the 14-10 victory at UTSA.
Carter Cunningham: Named the AAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 26 ... Has registered a hit in all but one game this season ... Leads the American Athletic Conference in batting average and total bases ... Has started 20 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 (12) ... 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 22 games at right field ... Leads the club in multi-hit performances (13) and is second in multi-RBI efforts (seven) ... 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 21 games at center field and has hit leadoff in all but one contest ... Paces the club with 11 stolen bases in 13 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 16 batters in 15.1 innings of work ... Made his first start in an East Carolina uniform at Campbell, registering three strikeouts in 2.1 innings ... Put in a season-long outing at Elon and earned the win after throwing five innings and allowing just one earned run.
Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman: Slots third on the team in strikeouts (43) ... Is tied for second on the team in appearances (11) ... 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 ... Picked up the win in relief at UTSA via 2.2 scoreless innings.
Luke Nowak: Has started seven 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 ... 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 22 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 16 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 ... Notched a pair of hits and scored two runs at Elon.
Dixon Williams: Has started 21 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 strikeouts (54) ... 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 steps back into AAC play with a three-game home series against UAB March 28-30. The Pirates and Blazers will face off Thursday, Friday and Saturday due to the Easter holiday.

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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

Ryan McCrystal

Luke Nowak

Jacob Starling

Justin Wilcoxen

Dixon Williams

Trey Yesavage

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