No. 12 ECU Challenges No. 19 NC State Tuesday Night In Raleigh

Game 27: No. 12 East Carolina at No. 19 NC State
Coverage	April 2nd: 6:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Stream: ACC Network Extra (Evan Budrovich and Andrew Ciencin) Radio: 94.3 The Game (Scott Rogers and Dr. Gary Overton)
Location:	Raleigh, N.C. \| Doak Field at Dail Park (2,500)
Official Websites:	East Carolina \| NC State
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| NC State
Statistics:	East Carolina \| NC State
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. 12 East Carolina heads to Raleigh and Doak Field at Dail Park Tuesday for its first meeting of the season with No. 19 NC State. First pitch is scheduled for 6 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 through ACC Network Extra with Evan Budrovich and Andrew Ciencin on the call.

The Pirates (20-6) took care of business at home last week, completing the season series sweep of UNCW Tuesday before brooming UAB over the weekend. ECU kept pace with UTSA and Wichita State at the top of the standings as the Pirates are just a game back of the pair for first place.

East Carolina's bullpen has begun to take shape over the last couple weeks as it sports a 2.01 earned run average with just eight earned runs surrendered in its last 35.2 innings of work. The pitching staff as a whole has excelled during the first half of the season as the Pirates check in at second nationally in WHIP (1.13), fourth in earned run average (3.49), sixth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (7.05) and ninth in fewest walks allowed per nine innings (3.10). Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman slots fourth in ERA (0.96) and seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (15.75).

Offensively, ECU is hitting a collective .299 with five lineup regulars batting at least .314. Carter Cunningham tops the club with a .396 average as well as seven doubles, one triple, six home runs and league-best 30 RBI. He also ranks second in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage (.663), on base percentage (.488).

After this weekend's league series at Florida Atlantic, ECU will play 18 of its final 25 regular season contests at home where it is 13-1 this season. The Pirates currently own road wins over Liberty (series sweep), UNCW, Elon and UTSA and are 7-5 away from Clark-LeClair Stadium - including a neutral site victory over then No. 15 North Carolina at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville.

Projected Pitching Matchup
LHP Aaron Groller (1-0, 4.91 ERA, 7.1 IP) vs. LHP Ryan Marohn (2-0, 4.63 ERA, 23.1 IP)

About NC State
The Wolfpack (18-7) are on a bit of a heater, having won six of their last seven games with a series win over Duke and a sweep of Notre Dame. Garrett Pennington, a transfer student-athlete from Wichita State, paces the team with a .386 batting average while former East Carolina infielder Alec Makarewicz is hitting .350 with 31 runs scored, 11 doubles, 11 home runs and 40 RBI. As a team, NC State is batting .305 while the pitching staff sports a 6.51 ERA with 228 strikeouts and 124 walks in 211.2 innings of work.

The NC State Series
NC State leads the all-time series with East Carolina by a 71-42 margin. The teams split a pair of meetings last season with the Pirates taking a 13-9 victory in Greenville before the Wolfpack responded with a 5-4 win over in Raleigh. ECU's last victory over NC State in Raleigh occurred back on April 1st, 2009, by a 14-4 score.

Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 371 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 (15) ... Has allowed just one earned run in his last 18 innings of work ... 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 26 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 ... Legged out his second career triple and registered a pair of hits in the 7-4 win over UNCW.
Bristol Carter: Made his collegiate debut in the season opener ... Has started 17 games in left field and one 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 ... Ranks second in the American Athletic Conference in batting average ... Has started 23 games at first base and three in left field ... Paces the club with nine 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 ... Picked up his first save of the season with two scoreless innings against UAB.
Jacob Jenkins-Cowart: Has started all 26 games at right field ... Leads the club in multi-hit performances (14) 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 24 games at center field and has hit leadoff in all but two contests ... Paces the club with 13 stolen bases in 15 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 16.1 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 (49) ... Is tied for second on the team in appearances (13) ... Has surrendered just one earned run in his last 19.2 innings of work ... 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 at UNCW ... Picked up the win in relief at UTSA via 2.2 scoreless innings ... Threw three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to notch the victory in the 7-4 win over UNCW ... Tallied a win and a save in the UAB series.
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 26 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 19 games at catcher and five 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 25 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 resumes AAC play this weekend with a series at Florida Atlantic.

No. 12 ECU Challenges No. 19 NC State Tuesday Night In Raleigh

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Players Mentioned

Danny Beal

Joey Berini

Bristol Carter

Carter Cunningham

Aaron Groller

Jake Hunter

Jacob Jenkins-Cowart

Ryley Johnson

Chris Kahler

Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman

Alec Makarewicz

Luke Nowak

Jacob Starling

Justin Wilcoxen

Dixon Williams

Trey Yesavage

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