April 25, 2012
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| EAST CAROLINA PIRATES |
| Record |
27-13-1 |
| Last Game |
Win at No. 7 Rice, 4-3 (4/22/12) |
| Head Coach |
Billy Godwin (Atlantic Christian, 1986) |
|
Career: 506-236-1 (13th season) |
|
ECU Record: 244-151-1 (7th season) |
| Twitter |
@ECUBaseball |
| NORTH CAROLIN TARHEELS |
| Record |
29-13 |
| Last Game |
Loss vs. UNC Greensboro, 8-4 (4/24/12) |
| Head Coach |
Mike Fox (UNC, 1978) |
|
Career Record: 1,158-410-5 (28th season) |
|
Record at School: 618-259-1 (12th season) |
|
|
RECENT NEWS
Week 10 Recap l Brandt & Joyner Named To Pitcher-of-the-Year Watch List l Jeff Hoffman feature l Merritt Named To Stopper List
SERIES HISTORY
• Tonight's game will mark the 74th meeting between the two schools with UNC holding a firm 48-25 all-time record ... The last time ECU came away with a win in Chapel Hill was on April 27, 1994 defeating the Tar Heels, 7-5 ... ECU's last win between the two nationally-ranked programs came back in 2009 when Kevin Brandt, then a freshman, tossed 8 1/3 shutout innings allowing five hits and striking out 10 in ECU's 4-0 win over the No. 1 Tar Heels ... Since then, UNC has won the last four meetings including a pair of games in the 2009 Chapel Hill Super Regional.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Wednesday: RHP Jeff Hoffman (1-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. LHP Kent Emanuel (5-3, 2.24 ERA)
THINGS TO KNOW
• When the two teams square off today, the nation will see two of the Top 25 teams with the best winning percentages in college baseball since 1999. UNC owns the sixth-best winning percentage (.705), while ECU comes in at No. 18 (.657) ... For the complete Top 25 list, see below ... Freshman Jeff Hoffman will make his sixth start of the season and first against instate rival No. 10 North Carolina ... Hoffman is coming off his worst start of his young career after allowing six runs (all earned) on eight hits with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings against UNC Wilmington (4/17) ... Over the weekend he allowed one run (earned) in 1 2/3 innings against No. 7 Rice with two strikeouts ... Had 20.2 scoreless inning streak snapped against UNCW ... In 42.0 innings of work, he has allowed 15 runs (13 earned) on 31 hits with 33 strikeouts and 10 walks ... Owns a 1-1 record with one save ... He has appeared in 12 games (five starts) ... Against instate rival Elon (4/10), he struck out a career-high 10 batters and scattered three hits over eight shutout frames earning him C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week honors ... At one point he retired 13-straight batters and faced just five over the minimum in a no decision.
• Sophomore Reynolds batted a team-best .391 (9-for-23) during ECU's 2-3 week ... The sophomore DH recorded three multi-hit games and collected at least one hit in four of five games ... All nine of his base hits were singles on the week ... Against instate foe UNC Wilmington, he was 3-for-5 and followed that with another three-hit performance against William & Mary, where he drove in a pair of runs and scored once ... After going 0-for-4 at the plate in the series opener against Rice, he rebounded with a 2-for-5 performance on Saturday ... He reached base four times (two singles, two fielder's choices) and scored the Pirates first run of the day in the first frame on John Wooten's double to center ... Reynolds closed out the week going 1-for-4 in ECU's 4-3 win on Sunday ... He also made two appearances on the mound tossing two innings where he allowed one run (earned) on two hits with one strikeout ... Against Rice, he notched his team and league leading eighth save working a scoreless ninth with one strikeout and forced Derek Hamilton into a game-ending double play ... On the season he leads the team with a.353 average (47-for-133), while ranking second in hits ... He has added two home runs and six doubles to go along with 17 RBI and 18 runs scored ... On the bump he owns a 3-0 record with eight saves and a 2.89 ERA ... Reynolds has allowed 10 runs (five earned) on 16 hits with 16 strikeouts and just five walks in 18.2 innings ... He has held opposing hitters to a composite .235 average.
•The Pirates suffered their second Conference USA series loss over the weekend at No. 7 Rice and fell to 9-5-1 in league play, which still ranks third behind UCF (12-3) and Rice (11-4) ... This season, the Pirates have won three league series (UAB, Houston and Memphis) and seven series overall (Milwaukee, Stony Brook, Alabama Tournament, Penn State and UAB - all sweeps).
• ECU's pitching staff posted a 4.79 ERA on the week allowing 25 runs (23 earned) on 52 hits with 31 strikeouts ... On the season as a whole, they sports a 3.17 ERA, which ranks third in C-USA and 37th nationally ... In 41 games, ECU has allowed 169 runs (131 earned) with 277 strikeouts, 110 walks and are holding opposing hitters to a composite .253 average ... The bullpen has allowed 67 runs (44 earned) on 127 hits in 147.0 innings with a 2.29 ERA.
NATIONAL POLLS
Heading into this weeks action, the Pirates are ranked No. 27 by Perfect Game and are receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
RPI RANKINGS
In the latest RPI reports (Apr. 24), the Pirates have the third-best RPI in Conference USA ranking 20th by WarrenNolan.com and 21st by BoydsWorld.com ... In the NCAA's most recent RPI report that was released on April 24th, the Pirates came in at No. 22.
GODWIN GETS No. 500
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 506-236-1 record ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list (244) and trails only ECU Hall of Famer Gary Overton (427).
NATIONS TOP WIN PERCENTAGES FROM 1999-2011
Using the 1999 season as the starting point (the year the NCAA expanded the postseason tournament field to 64 teams with the current Super Regional format), ECU has ranks as one of the top teams in the nation in win percentage. Here's a closer look at the country's winningest programs from 1999 to 2011: (This list does not include any 2012 results; ECU 2012 opponents are bold.)
Team, Wins-Loses-Ties (Pct.)
1. Rice, 635-221-0 (.742)
2. Florida State, 651-227-1 (.741)
3. Oral Roberts, 561-224-0 (.715)
4. Texas, 614-247-1 (.713)
5. Coastal Carolina, 573-234-0 (.710)
6. North Carolina, 589-246-1 (.705)
7. Cal State Fullerton, 579-244-0 (.704)
8. Arizona State, 531-224-1 (.703)
9. South Carolina, 612-261-0 (.701)
10. Miami, 565-246-3 (.696)
11. Wichita State, 598-276-0 (.684)
12. Georgia Tech, 551-255-1 (.683)
13. LSU, 558-276-5 (.668)
14. Clemson, 566-288-1 (.663)
15. Nebraska, 527-268-2 (.662)
16. Tulane, 532-275-2 (.659)
17. Stanford, 527-274-2 (.658)
18. East Carolina, 519-271-0 (.657)
19. Notre Dame, 511-271-5 (.652)
20. Coll. of Charleston, 487-279-0 (.636)
21. Florida, 517-300-2 (.632)
22. TCU, 498-290-0 (.632)
23. Southern Miss, 503-296-0 (.630)
24. Alabama, 508-300-0 (.629)
25. Virginia, 498-294-2 (.628)
