April 16, 2012

East Carolina Pirates (25-10-1, 8-3-1 C-USA)
Last Week's National Rankings: No. 24 (Perfect Game); No. 26 (USA Today/Coaches) and No. 30 (NCBWA)
Current Streak: W-1

Last Week: 3-2
Apr. 10 - Win at Elon, 3-2 (10)
Apr. 11 - Loss vs. Old Dominion, 3-2
Apr. 13 - Win at Memphis, 5-2
Apr. 14 - Loss at Memphis, 5-2
Apr. 15 - Win at Memphis, 14-7

Upcoming Week
Home vs. UNC Wilmington (Apr. 17)
Home vs. William & Mary (Apr. 18)
Road vs. No. 9 Rice (Apr. 20-22)

Pirate Hitter-of-the-Week
Jack Reinheimer, Sophomore, SS
Reinheimer batted a team-best .476 (10-for-21) on the weekend during ECU's 3-2 week, which included its third-straight Conference USA series win ... The sophomore also led the Pirates in hits (10), RBI (8) and multi-hit games (4) ... With at least one hit in all five games, Reinheimer extended his current hitting streak to eight games dating back to April 3 against UNC Wilmington ... Four of his 10 hits were extra-base hits (3 doubles, triple) and he drove in at least one run in all five games (four two-RBI contests) ... Three of his four extra-base hits drove in two runs ... At Elon to start the week, he was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of doubles ... In the ninth inning he broke a scoreless tie with a two-out RBI double ... The next night against ODU, he posted his third-straight two-hit game dating back to the series finale against Houston by going 2-for-4 with two RBI ... His two-out triple in the fourth inning tied the game at two ... In league play against Memphis, Reinheimer was 6-for-13 with four RBI, four runs scored, a double and a stolen base ... Friday night he added yet another multi-hit game going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored ... In the second frame he had a two-RBI double staking ECU to an early 2-0 lead ... He followed that with a RBI single in the seventh and another base hit in the ninth ... Saturday he posted his fifth-straight multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate ... He singled in the third inning ... Delivered another RBI base hit in the fifth and came around to score on Tim Younger's single later in the frame ... Reinheimer capped off his impressive week with his fifth-straight game on the week with an RBI ... In the fourth inning he laced a single to left field that scored Zach Wright ... He swiped his fifth base of the season in the frame moving into scoring position and came around to score on another Younger RBI single ... On the season he is batting .289 (43-for-149) with a pair of home runs, a triple, eight doubles, 18 RBI and has scored 22 runs.

Pirate Pitcher-of-the-Week
Jeff Hoffman, Freshman, RHP
Hoffman had his best game as a Pirate in midweek action against instate rival Elon on Tuesday ... The Latham, N.Y. native tossed a career-best eight scoreless innings and fanned a career-best 10 batters (six looking) ... With his eight scoreless innings, Hoffman has extended his current shutout streak to 19.0 frames going back to the third inning at No. 9 N.C. State ... Hoffman faced five over the minimum allowing three hits (all singles), one walk and a hit batter in a no decision and from the fourth inning (one out) to the eighth (one out), retired 13-straight hitters ... The right-hander struck out at least one batter in all eight frames and had a pair of punch outs in the third and eighth innings ... He retired the side in order five times and his lone inning where he got in trouble game in the eighth, where Elon loaded the bases with one out (HBP, BB, single) before he retired the next two batters ... With his eight shutout innings, Hoffman lowered his ERA to a team and C-USA best 1.51 ... In 10 appearances (four starts) he has allowed just eight runs (six earned) on 22 hits with 25 strikeouts to just seven walks in 35.2 innings ... He is 1-0 on the season with one save.

PIRATE NOTES
The Pirates picked up their third-straight Conference USA series win over the weekend at Memphis and improved to 8-3-1, which puts them a half game back behind UCF (9-3) and Rice (9-3) and in third place in the league standings ... The series win also marked the seventh weekend series win for the Pirates this season (Milwaukee, Stony Brook, Alabama Tournament, Penn State and UAB - all sweeps).

ECU's pitching staff posted a 2.80 ERA on the week allowing 19 runs (14 earned) on 41 hits with 33 strikeouts during its 3-2 week ... On the season as a whole, they sport a 2.97 ERA, which ranks second in C-USA ... In 36 games, ECU has allowed 144 runs (108 earned) with 246 strikeouts, 97 walks and are holding opposing hitters to a composite .246 average ... The bullpen has allowed 55 runs (36 earned) on 105 hits in 128.1 innings with a 2.31 ERA.

Senior Kevin Brandt picked up his fifth win of the season (2nd in C-USA) at Memphis ... The left-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in 6.1 innings and recorded his team-leading eight quality start in nine appearances (all starts) ... He fanned four on the day with a pair of walks ... On the season he is 5-2 with a 1.92 ERA ... In 61.0 innings he has allowed 19 runs (13 earned) on 52 hits with 43 strikeouts to just 15 walks.

Zach Wright continued his hot hitting on the week batting a team second-best .471 (8-for-17) with a home run, double, two RBI and six runs scored ... He also drew three walks and was hit three times reaching base a total of 13 times on the week ... Wright recorded three multi-hit games and scored at least one run in all five contests ... In the series finale he belted his second homer of the season and 33rd of his career on a two-run shot ... Behind the plate he threw out 3 of 5 base runners to push his season total to nine ... On the year he has raised his average to .304 (38-for-125) ... Currently he is tied for the team lead in doubles (8), while ranking second in RBI (26), runs (27) and walks (16).

Reining C-USA Hitter-of-the-Week Tim Younger batted .412 (7-for-17) on the week with three RBI, four runs, two doubles and four walks ... He recorded three multi-hit games and pushing his team lead to 14 ... With his opening game walk in the series finale, Younger has now reached base safely in 15 games dating back to March 24 at UCF ... Younger scored three runs in the series finale at Memphis, tying his season high ... He also added a pair of hits and an RBI single in ECU's 14-7 series clinching win ... Currently he leads the team with a .367 average (44-for-120), while ranking fifth in C-USA ... In league games only, he is batting a C-USA second-best .426 trailing only teammate John Wooten (.429).

John Wooten belted his team leading seventh home run (fourth in C-USA) in the series finale at Memphis sending a three-run shot over the left field wall ... On Sunday, he drove in a career-best five runs and collected four hits (tying career-best performance) ... He batted .350 (7-for-20) on the week with six RBI and scoring three runs ... On the season he is batting .333 (46-for-138) with 24 RBI and a team-best 31 runs ... He has also added 13 multi-hit and five multi-RBI contests.

Redshirt sophomore Tanner Merritt picked up a pair of saves on the weekend to push his season total to seven, which shares the team lead with Drew Reynolds and is tied for first in league action (all games) ... He worked 6.0 innings in three outings allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts ... Heading into the series finale at Memphis, he had tossed 12.0 consecutive scoreless innings out of the bullpen dating back to Mar. 30 against UAB before giving up a pair a two-out run in the seventh inning in the series finale at Memphis ... He has appeared in a team-high 18 games posting a 2-2 record to go along with his seven saves ... Merritt boasts a 1.67 ERA with 23 strikeouts and has allowed nine runs (six earned) on 24 hits in 32.1 innings.

Head Coach Billy Godwin recorded his 500th career win in the series opener against Houston on April 5 in ECU's 10-3 victory ... For his career, Godwin owns a 504-232-1 record ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list (242) and trails only ECU Hall of Famer Gary Overton (427).