March 4, 2013

vs.

UNCG at East Carolina Mar. 5, 2013 | 3 p.m. (EST) Greenville, N.C. RADIO: WNCT 1070 AM

Watch | Live Stats | ECU Notes | UNCG Notes | C-USA Notes | Tickets | Gameday Central

MEDIA INFORMATION Date Mar. 5, 2013 Location Greenville, N.C. Tickets Online Ticket Center Live Video ECU All-Access  Radio Pirate IMG Sports Network Live Stats Gametracker Game Notes East Carolina I UNCG Twitter @ECUBaseball EAST CAROLINA PIRATES Record 6-4 Last Game Win vs. St. John's, 7-3 (Mar. 3, 2013) Head Coach Billy Godwin (Atlantic Christian, 1986) Career: 521-251-1 (14th season) ECU Record: 259-166-1 (8th season) UNCG SPARTANS Record 6-3 Last Game Win vs. Albany, 9-8/10 inn., (Mar. 3, 2013) Head Coach Link Jarrett (Florida State, 1994) Career Record: 6-3 (1st season) Record at School: Same

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME
• The Pirates will close out their home stand Tuesday afternoon when they play host to UNCG at 3 p.m. (EST) ... ECU is coming off a series sweep over St. John's where it improved to 6-4 on the season ... UNCG enters the game with a 6-3 record having claimed a series win over Albany over the weekend ... First-year head coach Link Jarrett was member of Billy Godwin's staff at ECU from 2005-09 serving as the infield coach, hitting instructor and recruiting coordinator.

PRESEASON NOTES
• ECU was picked third in the 2013 Conference USA preseason poll after going 13-10-1 in league play a season ago, finishing in sixth.

• Stepping onto the diamond are 12 new faces, which consists of junior college transfers Dylan Brown (Gulf Coast Community), Zach Houchins (Louisburg) and Ryan Williams (West Valley College), as well as nine true freshmen: Garrett Brooks, Joe Brooks, NIck Durazo, Luke Lowery, Kyle Majette, Andrew Schorr, Justin Taylor, Travis Watkins and Hayden White ... Nine of the Pirates 12 new faces have seen action in 2013.

SERIES HISTORY
• Tuesday's game will be 12th meeting between the two schools and the first since 2001 where the Spartans claimed a 9-5 victory in Greenville, N.C.

PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday: Brandon Browne (LHP, 0-0, 27.00 ERA) vs. Andy Smithmyer (RHP, 1-1, 4.50 ERA)
Wednesday: TBA vs. NIck Durazo (LHP, 0-0, 36.00 ERA)

PIRATES TO WATCH
• Smithmyer Notes: Appeared in three games making one start ... Owns a 1-1 record picking up his win against New Mexico State (Feb. 24) in relief at the 10th Annual Keith LeClair Classic ... Worked 2.0 innings allowing one run (earned) on one hit with five walks and four strikeouts ... Also made relief appearance against St. John's (Mar. 2) tossing a scoreless inning with one hit and one strikeout ... Started lone game of the season at home against Campbell (Feb. 19) surrendering three runs (all earned) on fice hits with two walks and five punch outs in 5.0 innings ... 2012: Made lone start vs. Elon (5/5) working 6.2 scoreless frames allowing 4 Hs with 5 Ks and 3 BBs ... Appeared in 21 games out of the bullpen working 54.1 innings where he allowed 21 runs (13 earned) on 46 hits ... Led team and C-USA with a 1.92 ERA, which also ranks 14th nationally ... Ranked among league leaders in fewest ERs (1st), fewest Rs (t1st), fewest Hs (2nd), Ks looking (t4th) and Opp. BA (5th) ... Recorded 67 strikeouts to 25 walks in 61.0 innings ... Notched wins against ODU, No. 11 N.C. State, William & Mary, Southern Miss and VMI ... Against the Tribe (4/18) worked 6.0 innings with a season-best 8 Ks ... Also had a seven strikeout performance vs. Tulane (4/27) ... Out of the pen has tossed 3.0 or more innings 10 times and fanned 3-or more 10 times.

• Durazo Notes Made collegiate debut against New Mexico State (Feb. 24) working one-third of an inning in relief allowing one hit ... Surrendered four runs (all earned) in second outing of the season against Liberty (Feb. 27), where he worked two-thirds of an inning walking three batters ... High School: Three-year letterwinner at Lee County High School ... Earned preseason All-Atlantic Honorable Mention accolades by Perfect Game as a senior ... Posted a 4-2 record with a pair of saves in 2012 ... Sported a 1.51 ERA with 101 strikeouts to just 36 walks in 69.1 innings.

• Bryan Bass continued his hot start to the 2013 season batting .353 (6-for-17) with a pair of RBI and five runs scored ... The senior second baseman extended his current hitting streak to 11 games dating back to last season ... He also scored at least one run in all four contests ... Against Liberty Bass was 1-for-5 with a run scored ... He followed that with a 1-for-3 performance in game one against St. John's, where he walked and scored a run ... In game two of the St. John's series, Bass collected three hits, drove in one and scored a pair of runs ... He executed a safety squeeze perfectly down the third base line scoring Luke Lowery in the second frame putting ECU up 3-0 ... Bass closed out the week with a 1-for-5 performance where he collected an RBI for the second-straight contest and scored a run ... He also swiped is team-leading third base of the season ... In all, he started all four games at second recording 16 putouts, 11 assists, turned four double plays for a 1.000 fielding percentage ... Currently Bass leads the team in average (.410), hits (16), runs (eight), walks (six), stolen bases (three) and on-base percentage (.489).

• Freshman catcher Luke Lowery batted .800 (4-for-5) in a pair of games ... He recorded his first collegiate start in game two of the three game weekend series against St. John's were he was 3-for-4 with an RBI, a triple and two runs scored ... In five games this season, he is batting .571 (4-for-7) with six total bases and is slugging .857.

• Senior reliever Jake Harris appeared in three games on the week posting a 1.59 ERA where he allowed one runs (earned) on four hits with three strikeouts in 5.2 innings ... Harris had scoreless outings against Liberty (2.0 IP, 2 H, BB, K) and St. John's (1.0 IP, BB) in game one of the series ... On Sunday he allowed his first run of the season after entering the game in the seventh inning with runners on first and second and no outs ... He finished the contest giving up two hits that resulted in one earned run and struck out two in 2.2 frames ... On the season, Harris owns a club-best 0.87 ERA in six appearances ... He has allowed one run (earned) on 10 hits with seven strikeouts to just two walks in 10.1 innings.

• Jack Reinheimer had another solid week batting .333 (5-for-15) with a team-best four RBI, a double, two walks and a pair of runs scored ... He collected a hit in all four games which included a pair of base knocks against Liberty for his team-leading fourth multi-hit contest of the year ... In the series finale against St. John's he drove in a game-high three runs lacing a two-run double in the second ... He drove in another run on a sac fly in the sixth scoring Garrett Brooks ... Reinheimer ranks second on the club with a .389 (14-for-36) batting average with a home run, six RBI, six runs scored and owns a team-best .500 slugging percentage amongst Pirate starters.

• Drew Reynolds notched his team-leading third save of the season against St. John's in game one of the series ... Reynolds tossed a scoreless ninth allowing a walk and fanning two ... He lowered his ERA to 1.59 and has surrendered one earned fun in 5.2 innings with six punch outs.

• After starting the season 0-3, the Pirates have won six of its last seven games, which include three wins in the 10th Annual Keith LeClair Classic and a series sweep of St. John's ... ECU Head Coach Billy Godwin improved his career coaching record to 521-251-1 and his Pirate record to 259-166-1 ... His 259 wins trails only ECU Hall of Famer Dr. Gary Overton, who amassed 427 wins in 13 years (1985-1997) as the Pirates' skipper.