Gameday: No. 7 ECU Plays Host To Houston In AAC Series
April 26, 2018 | Baseball
| Houston at No. 7 ECU (Games 40-42) | |
| Dates: | April 27-29, 2018 |
| Times: | 6:30 p.m. \\ 4 p.m. \\ 11:30 a.m. (ET) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium) |
| Tickets \\\ Parking: | Buy Tickets | Parking Changes For 2018 | Promotions |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: 94.3 FM The Game Watch Live: (All Weekend) TuneIn Radio: Online (Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats: All Weekend |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | Houston |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | Houston (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2018 Statistics: | ECU | Houston | The American |
| Baseball Central: | Roster | Schedule/Results | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Baseball | College Scoreboard |
| Social Media" | ECUScoreboard (in-game updates) | ECUBaseball | The American #ECUPirates | #ECUBaseball |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 7 ECU returns home for a three-game American Athletic Conference series against Houston at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. First pitch between the top two teams in the league is slated for Friday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. (ET).
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SERIES
• ECU (30-9, 8-4 AAC) and Houston (25-16, 10-5 AAC) have met 55 times with the Cougars holding a slight lead in the all-time series 28-26-1 … Houston has won five-straight against the Pirates including all four a year ago and the 2017 AAC Tournament Championship Game … The last time ECU won a game in the series came at home in 2016 when it two of three games in the weekend tilt.
• ECU posted a 4-0 record last week picking up road wins at No. 3 Duke (9-2) and a series sweep at Memphis (5-1, 4-2, 4-2) … The Pirates come into this week's action ranked in all six national polls: Baseball American (No. 7), Perfect Game (No. 7), D1Baseball (No. 8), NCBWA (No. 8), USA Today/Coaches (No. 8) and Collegiate Baseball (No. 15) … The No. 7 standing two weeks ago by D1Baseball and this week by Baseball America is the highest in-season ranking (not including pre or postseason) since 2004 when the Pirates stood at No. 3 by Baseball America … It marks the sixth-straight week ECU has been ranked in all six polls and ninth consecutive week in at least one poll.
PIRATE QUICK HITS (prior to weekend)
• Chris Holba is a two-time AAC Honor Member ... Tied for first nationally in wins (9) ... Also ranks among the national leaders in ERA (15th) ... Perfect Game Mid-Season First-Team All-American selection ... Named to Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List ... Surrendered first runs of the season at Charlotte (streak ended at 25.1 innings) ... Combined on a pair shutouts (UNC/Saint Joseph).
• Alec Burleson will make his third start vs. Houston (others: Campbell & Memphis) ... Has not allowed a run in 7 of 13 appearances ... Fanned multiple batters in a game seven times with a carer-best five vs. WCU (collegiate debut) ... Owns a 2-0 record picking up wins against Campbell and UNCW.
• Tyler Smith posted wins against WCU, UNCC, UMD, Wichita State, Washington and Memphis ... Notched save vs. UNC ... Tallied three quality starts (first career at UNCC) ... Ranks among nations Top 40 in ERA (24th) and wins (39th) ... Fanned career-high seven vs. UMD ... Suffered first loss of the season against USF.
• Jake Agnos has allowed just three runs (all earned) in his last seven outings (18.2 IP) with 29 strikeouts, which includes three midweek starts ... In those weekday starts, he has posted a 2-0 record with wins at Elon and No. 3 Duke ... The lefty has not surrendered a run out of the bullpen and fanned 11 batters ... He picked up first win of the season allowing two runs against CofC (3/7) ... Notched second win at No. 20 UCF (3/24) in relief tossing three scoreless innings with five strikeouts ... In last start, he worked five frames giving up one run with four punch outs at Duke earning his fourth win of the season.
• Trey Benton has not pitched since April 15 and will likely see action out of the bullpen against Houston ... He earned AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week honors (Feb. 26) holding then No. 6 UNC to one run (earned) on two hits with 11 strikeouts in six inning ... Has tallied four quality starts ... Stands sixth nationally in K-to-BB ratio (11.75) and sixth in BBs Per 9 Innings (0.77).
• Bryant Packard is batting .500 (32-for-64) with 8 HRs, 20 RBI, 20 Rs, 9 multi-hit Gs and 13 XBHs during 17-game hit streak, which is tied for seventh all-time in program history ... Has reached base in a career-high 22 games, which is also a career-best ... Leader in HRs (10), hits (50), GW-RBI (7), average (.400), RBI (35), slugging (.712) and multi-hit games (15) ... Stands second in multi-RBI games with 8 ... Belted a career-best two home runs in a game twice (Washington, USF) - both coming in consecutive at-bats.
• Spencer Brickhouse has registered at least one hit in 28 of 39 games (multiple 11 times) ... Hit HRs vs. UNCC, WCU (twice) and UNC ... Had four hits and had four RBI in the three-game tilt vs. UNC ... Had 27-game on-base streak snapped vs. CofC (3/7) ... Has five career game-winning RBI (one in 2018).
• Connor Litton ranks second on the team in HRs (7) ... Hit at HR in four-straight games (all solo) from March 30 to April 4 ... Hit first career grand slam at No. 20 UCF ... Collected 6 hits in UNC series (two in each game) ... Had career-long hit streak of 12 games snapped at Washington (April 7) in the series finale.
• Brady Lloyd leads the team in runs (32), while ranking second in hits (48), doubles (9), stolen bases (nine), while ranking third in average (.372) ... Went 5-or-5 with 5 runs against UMD (3/17) ... Two-time AAC Honor Roll (3/17, 3/26) ... At Campbell, he drove in a career-best two runs ... Registered a pair of game-winning RBI (2/21, 3/30) and has three for his career.
• Dwanya Williams-Sutton returned to the Pirates lineup at Washington where he collected a pair of hits and belted his first home run of the season (13th career) ... Stands second on the team with a .393 batting average and has scored 16 runs ... Leads team with 10 stolen bases (four in last four games).
• Jake Washer was named to 2018 Johnny Bench Award Watch List (4/18) ... Saw career-high 13-game hit streak come to an end at Memphis - batted .388 (14-for-49) with 3 HRs, 16 RBI and 10 runs scored ... Fifth on the team with 10 multi-hit games, while leading with nine multi-RBI games ... Hit HRs vs. UNCC, No. 20 UCF, UNCW, Wash. and USF ... Drove in a career-high 4 runs at UNC (Feb. 25).
• Ryan Ross leads the club with five saves ... Over last eight outings has allowed one run (earned) on six hits with 13 strikeouts to one walk in 14.2 innings ... Earned AAC Honor Roll honors (3/19) after picking up two saves in UMD series where he tossed 9.1 scoreless frames with 11 Ks and no BBs.
• ECU's starting pitching is sporting a 2.85 ERA (team is 13th nationally) ... They have allowed 71 Rs (61 ERs) with 164 Ks to 49 BBs ... The bullpen has allowed 71 Rs (60 ERs) with 142 Ks and 56 BBs in 156.1 innings for a 3.45 ERA ... The pen has allowed 43 inherited runners to score (43 of 121; 35.6 percent).
PROBABLE STARTERS (2018 stats)
Friday: LHP Trey Cumbie (4-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Holba (9-0, 1.48 ERA)
Saturday: LHP Aaron Fletcher (4-2, 1.54 ERA) vs. LHP Alec Burleson (2-0, 1.90 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Tyler Smith (6-1, 1.66 ERA)
GODWIN AT A GLANCE
• Cliff Godwin, who was named the 16th head coach in school history on June 25, 2014, was a four-year letterwinner for the Pirates from 1998-2001 … He has been a part of nine NCAA Regional and two College World Series teams at the Division I level as an assistant coach and head coach …During his three years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths (2015-16), a Super Regional appearance (2016), an American Athletic Conference (2015) Tournament title and a 140-82-1 (.636) overall record … Three players have earned All-America honors, five were named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team, six took home all-conference honors (five first-teamers), seven were selected as American Player-of-the-Week, while three have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams … Named 2015 AAC Coach-of-the-Year and was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in January of 2016 … Recently he was named to the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team staff where he will serve as the third base and hitting coach … 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 (16-16 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.
