No. 12 ECU Faces Off With FAU In Boca Raton

Friday, April 5

Boca Raton, Fla.

6:30 p.m.

East Carolina University

Florida Atlantic

April 04, 2024 | Baseball

Games 28-30: No. 12 East Carolina at Florida Atlantic
Coverage	April 5th: 6:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch April 6th: 4:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch April 7th: 12:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch Stream: ESPN+ (Patrick Murray and Michael Wottreng) Radio: 94.3 The Game (Scott Rogers)
Location:	Boca Raton, Fla. \| FAU Baseball Stadium
Official Websites:	East Carolina \| Florida Atlantic
Game Notes:	East Carolina \| Florida Atlantic
Statistics:	East Carolina \| Florida Atlantic
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Social Media:	ECUBaseball (Twitter) \| ecu_baseball (Instagram) \| East Carolina Baseball (Facebook)

BOCA RATON, Fla. – No. 12 East Carolina resumes American Athletic Conference play this weekend when its heads to Boca Raton for a series with Florida Atlantic. The Pirates and Owls begin the set Friday at 6:30 p.m. and reconvene Saturday at 4 p.m. before closing out the series Sunday at Noon.

Scott Rogers will have the radio call locally on 94.3 The Game while all three contests will also stream live via ESPN+ with Patrick Murray and Michael Wottreng on the broadcast.

The Pirates (21-6, 4-2 AAC) are armed with a five-game winning streak after rolling to a 12-4 road win over NC State Tuesday - their first victory over the Wolfpack in Raleigh since the 2009 campaign. Danny Beal (3-1) picked up the win in relief with 2.2 scoreless innings of work, though starter Aaron Groller was absolutely nails in his first start of the campaign with three scoreless and hitless frames and three strikeouts against no walks. Ryan Marohn (2-1) took his first loss of the season, surrendering four runs (three earned) on six hits with a walk and strikeout in 4.1 innings.

Five different ECU batters recorded multiple hits, led by Carter Cunningham who was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and one driven in. Jacob Starling and Dixon Williams also chipped in with two hits and a pair of RBI each. Jacob Cozart paced the home side with a hit and two RBI.

East Carolina sits in a tie with FAU for third place in the early league standings as both squads are 4-2. Wichita State and UTSA lead the conference currently with 5-1 records.

The Pirates are the AAC leader in earned run average (3.43) while slotting second in batting average (.300). Carter Cunningham enters the weekend leading the AAC in batting average (.406), slugging percentage (.689) and RBI (32).

Projected Weekend Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Trey Yesavage (5-1, 2.18 ERA, 41.1 IP) vs. RHP C.J. Williams (4-1, 3.15 ERA, 40.0 IP)
Saturday: LHP Zach Root (4-0, 1.98 ERA, 41.0 IP) vs. RHP Tyler Murphy (3-0, 3.10 ERA, 29.0 IP)
Sunday: TBA vs. LHP Trey Beard (2-2, 4.67 ERA, 27.0 IP)

About Florida Atlantic
The Owls (17-9, 4-2 AAC) picked up a nice 3-0 midweek win at home over Miami Tuesday after taking two of three in a road series at Memphis last weekend. Florida Atlantic is hitting .266 as team while the pitching staff has been solid to the tune of a 3.95 ERA and 242 strikeouts against 121 walks in 227.2 innings. Christian Adams paces the offensive efforts with squad-best numbers in batting average (.306) and home runs (five).

The Florida Atlantic Series
East Carolina and Florida Atlantic have split four meetings that comprise the all-time series between the programs. The Pirates took two of three from the Owls in a Conference USA series in Boca Raton back in 2014 while FAU won a 9-8 decision (also in Boca Raton) on March 14, 2001.

Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 372 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 (16) ... 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 ... Credited with the win at NC State with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.
Joey Berini: Has started all 27 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 18 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 ... Leads the American Athletic Conference in batting average, slugging percentage and RBI ... Has started 24 games at first base and three in left field ... Paces the club with 10 multi-RBI performances and slots second in in multi-hit efforts (13) ... 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 27 games at right field ... Leads the club in multi-hit performances (15) 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 ... Notched two hits and drew two walks in the 12-4 win at NC State.
Ryley Johnson: Has started 25 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 (50) ... Is tied for second on the team in appearances (14) ... Has surrendered just one earned run in his last 21.2 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: Tabbed to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watchlist ... 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 27 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 ... Registered two hits, two RBI and two runs scored in the win at NC State.
Justin Wilcoxen: Has started 20 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 in the win at NC State.
Dixon Williams: Has started 26 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 ... Went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the win at NC State.
Trey Yesavage: Leads the American Conference in strikeouts (63) ... 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 returns home Tuesday, April 9th, for a non-conference affair with Elon. First pitch from Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium is set for 6 p.m.