East Carolina makes the short trek to Harnett County Tuesday evening for its traditional early-season midweek encounter with Campbell. First pitch at Jim Perry Stadium is scheduled for 5 p.m.
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊?¿ 👀⚫️#PIRATES pic.twitter.com/fVaaHlo3uX
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) February 18, 2025
The contest will stream live via FloSports with Jay Sonnhalter and Chris Hemeyer on the call. Pirate Radio will also be at the game posting photos and videos on our Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube pages.
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ECU (2-1) took two of three from George Mason last weekend, capping the series victory with a 4-3 walk off triumph Saturday. Newcomer and shortstop Alex Bouche, a transfer from Old Dominion, providing the game-winning home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning. Another transfer student-athlete, sophomore RHP Brad Pruett from the University of Oklahoma, was tabbed to the AAC Weekly Honorable Mention List after pitching 3.1 innings of scoreless relief with nine strikeouts in game two of Friday’s doubleheader.
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊?¿ 👀⚫️#PIRATES pic.twitter.com/fVaaHlo3uX
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) February 18, 2025
The Pirate pitching staff held the Patriots to a paltry .140 batting average while twirling a 3.33 earned run average with 28 strikeouts in 27.0 innings of work. East Carolina also limited George Mason to just three total base hits in the final two games of the set.
Projected Pitching Matchup
LHP Nick Moran (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.1 IP) vs. RHP Mason Smith (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP)
About Campbell
The Camels (0-3) traveled cross country to California for Opening Weekend, suffering a sweep at the hands of then No. 22 UC Santa Barbara. Campbell hit .206 as a team in the series with three doubles, a triple and three home runs while the pitchers exited California with a 9.75 team ERA with 21 strikeouts and seven walks in 24.0 innings. Seth Farni was the top statistical Camel hitter against the Gauchos, producing a .286 batting average and 1.089 OPS.
The Campbell Series
East Carolina leads the series with Campbell by a 73-31 count but has dropped four consecutive one-run decisions to the Camels. The Pirates have lost three of the last four in Buies Creek.
In Season-Opening Series
East Carolina has now won eight of 11 season-opening series since 2015. Until last weekend, each three-game set ended in a sweep. The Pirates have recorded clean sweeps over Longwood (2016), Western Carolina (2018), Radford (2019), William & Mary (2020), Rhode Island (2021), George Washington (2023) and Rider (2024) while falling to Virginia (2015), Ole Miss (2017) and Bryant (2022).
40 Somethings
East Carolina won 46 games in 2024, marking its sixth-straight campaign of eclipsing the 40-victory plateau. The Pirates own the second longest active streak nationally, trailing only Southern Miss (eight).
Winning With Regularity
ECU has claimed the last five AAC regular season titles. Wright State (Horizon League) is the only program in the country with a longer streak while Connecticut (Big East) and Fairfield (Metro) sit on four-straight conference regular season championships.
Distinguished Double
By winning both the regular season and conference tournament in 2022, ECU became the first team in league history to win both the outright/solo regular season title and conference tournament crown. Houston pulled off the double in 2017, but the Cougars had to share the regular season championship with UCF and were the No. 2 seed in the league tourney.
Listed Among The Nation’s Elite
D1Baseball recently updated its Top 100 baseball programs in 2024, identifying clubs in the best shape right now with an eye toward the next five to 10 years. ECU was tabbed No. 22 and is the highest ranked side in the AAC as well as one of six North Carolina institutions in the top 50 (North Carolina/12, NC State/14, Duke/28, Wake Forest/24 and UNCW/49). South Florida represents the next highest American Conference team at No. 62 while Charlotte is 73rd and Tulane slots 75th.
RPI Examination
ECU owns the third-best average RPI in the nation over the last five years, finishing seventh in 2019, 13th in 2021, eighth in 2022, 26th in 2023 and 22nd in 2024. The Pirates’ average mark of 14.8 ranks behind just Florida (10.6) and Oklahoma State (14.4).
Individual Notables
Head Coach Cliff Godwin: Owns 399 career victories and is second on the East Carolina career coaching wins list … Has been part of 15 NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach … Guided ECU to eight NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024 Greenville Regional host), four Super Regional appearances, five-straight American Athletic Conference regular season titles and three AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 399-188-1 (.679) overall record … Under Godwin’s direction, 14 players have earned All-America status while 25 have been named to NCAA All-Regional Teams. Additionally, 46 student-athletes have garnered all-conference status (27 first-team selections) and 28 players have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams. … A five-time AAC Coach-of-the-Year selection (2015, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024), 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 versus Tennessee.
Walker Barron: Started all three games of the George Mason series at catcher … Hit .333 (2-for-6) with two runs scored and two walks during Opening Weekend.
Alex Bouche: Started all three games of the George Mason series at shortstop … Hit .333 (3-for-12) during Opening Weekend with a run scored and an RBI … Hit a walk off home run in the series rubber game.
Kenan Bowman: Started all three games of the George Mason series … Made two starts in right field and the other in left … Registered his first collegiate hit in the series finale.
Braden Burress: Made two starts in left field during the George Mason series … Went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base in the season opener.
Jackson DiLorenzo: Collected two wins on the mound during the George Mason series, tossing 1.2 innings over two appearances … Logged two strikeouts against five walks.
Jack Herring: Made two starts during the George Mason series – one at right field and one at designated hitter … Recorded a hit in both games he played.
Jake Hunter: Made his first appearance on the mound since recovering from UCL internal brace surgery stemming from an injury he suffered at Memphis last season … Faced four batters in one inning of work in the series finale.
Austin Irby: Started all three games of the George Mason series … Made two starts as the designated hitter and one at first base … Registered his first collegiate RBI in the season opener before logging a hit in both subsequent games.
Sean Jenkins: Made his collegiate start on the mound in the George Mason series finale, allowing just one earned run with two strikeouts over 5.2 strong innings of work.
Nick Moran: Made his Pirate debut on the mound in the George Mason series finale, facing two batters over 0.1 inning.
Ethan Norby: Made his first start of the season in the George Mason series opener, scattering five hits and allowing three earned runs with six strikeouts and no walks in a 5.1-inning effort.
Alex Peltier: Started all three games of the George Mason series in center field … Collected his first collegiate hit and run scored in game two of the Friday doubleheader before going 2-for-3 with the game-tying solo home run in the series finale.
𝐀𝐀𝐂 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧🏴☠️⚾️@Bradpruett8 | #PIRATES pic.twitter.com/Iwfxm5KCpd
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) February 17, 2025
Brad Pruett: Named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honorable Mention list (Feb. 17) … Made his Pirate debut in game two of the Friday doubleheader versus George Mason, striking out nine over 3.1 innings while allowing just two hits.
Braxton Tramel: Made his first collegiate start at third base in the season opener and played in all three games during the weekend.
Colby Wallace: Started all three games of the George Mason series … Made two starts at first base and the other at third base … Drilled his first collegiate home run in the third inning of game two of Friday’s doubleheader.
Ian White Jr.: Made two appearances in the George Mason series … Logged his first collegiate save in game two of the Friday doubleheader.
Dixon Williams: Started all three games of the George Mason series … Made two starts at second base and one at third base … Logged two home runs and five RBI during Opening Weekend.
Lance Williams: Made his collegiate pitching debut in the season opener … Surrendered just one hit and earned run while striking out four over 3.0 innings of work.
Ethan Young: Made his Pirate pitching debut in the season opener, tossing 0.2 innings while allowing three runs on two hits.
Bradley Zayac: Made his first collegiate start and appearance in game two of the Friday doubleheader versus George Mason … Allowed two runs on a lone hit with a strikeout and two walks in 3.1 innings of work.
Looking Ahead
After battling Campbell Tuesday evening, East Carolina turns its attention to a weekend traveling series with nationally ranked North Carolina. The Pirates and Tar Heels begin the set Friday in Greenville, meet up at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Saturday and close things out Sunday in Chapel Hill.
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