ECU Baseball on Monday announced its 2026 schedule, which includes games against North Carolina, Duke and NC State.
CLICK HERE: 2026 schedule | Roster
The schedule also includes details about the Keith LeClair Classic and American Conference play. Below are more details and a link to the schedule from ECU Sports Information.
Check out Pirate Radio
Website | Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | Instagram | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
=====
Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information illustration)
East Carolina Baseball has assembled another demanding and highly competitive schedule for the 2026 season.
The Pirates will host 33 games at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium, including the storied 23rd annual Keith LeClair Classic, while also taking on 22 road matchups against top-tier opponents. With a slight home-field advantage compared to away games, ECU is ready for another exciting year of competition.
In his 12th year as head coach, Cliff Godwin has compiled 13 games against five opponents who qualified for an NCAA Regional in the 2025 season.
Baseball renewals will begin Thursday, Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. (ET). Renewal information will be emailed to all 2025 baseball season ticket holders at that time. Seats can be renewed via ECU’s Online Ticket Center or by calling the ECU Athletics Ticket Office at 252-737-4500. Please note that in order to renew online, you need to be logged into your Pirate Clubaccount.
ECU opens the season at home with a three-game weekend series against Xavier from February 13–15 at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates continue the opening stretch with an in-state road trip to Campbell on Feb. 17 before returning home to host Northern Illinois on Feb. 18.
The non-conference schedule remains strong throughout the early portion of the season, with the annual traveling series against North Carolina. The series will start in Greenville (Feb. 20), move west playing in Durham at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Feb. 21), and finish the series at Chapel Hill (Feb. 22).
The Pirates will host the College of Charleston for the final midweek matchup of February on the 25, with a quick turnaround hosting the Keith LeClair Classic Feb. 27-March 1. The long-standing program tradition weekend field of competitive non-conference opponents will consist of matchups against Rutgers, Troy and Western Carolina.
ECU hits the road for a day trip to Wilmington to take on UNCW (Mar. 4). The Pirates will then have a weekend series against familiar faces, Coastal Carolina, March 6-8, who were the runner-up in the 2025 NCAA College World Series.
The Pirates then move into mid-March with their final matches before the conference, including games against Old Dominion (Mar. 10), William & Mary (Mar. 11), Pennsylvania (Mar. 13-15), and Elon (Mar. 17).
Conference play begins on March 20-22 with a home series against UAB, followed by a trip down south to face UTSA (Mar. 27-29).
Additional home conference matchups include Charlotte (April 3-5), Wichita State (April 17-19), South Florida (April 24–26), and Rice (May 8–10).
The Pirates will travel three times for conference play through April and May, with series against Tulane (April 10-12), Memphis (May 1-3), and the regular-season finale against Florida Atlantic (May 14-16).
During conference, ECU will face a seven-game midweek slate, beginning with the Pirates on Mar. 24 at Duke and continuing through May 12 against Campbell in Greenville. The Pirates split home-and-away matchups with four regional rivals, Duke (Mar. 24 & April 7), NC State (April 14 & 28), Old Dominion (April 21) and Campbell (May 12)—playing each opponent once at home and once on the road.
The American Conference Baseball Championship will take place May 19-24 at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla., home of the Clearwater Threshers, the Single-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. East Carolina will look to advance to the tournament championship for the fourth time in the past five seasons, having won the title in 2025, with the last team to win a conference championship being in 2022.
Under Godwin’s leadership, East Carolina has reached nine NCAA Regionals (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024 as a regional host and 2025), advanced to four Super Regionals (including hosting in 2022), captured three American Conference Tournament titles, and compiled a 432-214-1 (.678) overall record. His tenure has seen 17 players earn All-America honors, 25 named to NCAA All-Regional Teams, and 50 student-athletes receive all-conference recognition, including 28 first-team selections. Additionally, 30 Pirates have been selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft under his guidance.
Twenty-three (23) returners come back to wear the purple and gold, including three-time Freshman All-American honoree Braden Burress, as well as Ethan Norby, clinching the All-American titles in his freshman and sophomore years at ECU.
The Pirates welcomed 19 newcomers, including 10 transfers and nine freshmen. Standing, the roster consists of nine freshmen, 10 sophomores, 13 juniors, eight seniors and one graduate student.