April 28, 2012
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| EAST CAROLINA PIRATES |
| Record |
27-16-1 (9-7-1 C-USA) |
| Last Game |
Loss vs. Tulane, 4-2 (4/28/12) |
| Head Coach |
Billy Godwin (Atlantic Christian, 1986) |
|
Career: 506-239-1 (13th season) |
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ECU Record: 244-154-1 (7th season) |
| Twitter |
@ECUBaseball |
| TULANE GREEN WAVE |
| Record |
29-14 (7-7 C-USA) |
| Last Game |
Win at East Carolina, 4-2 (4/28/12) |
| Head Coach |
Rick Jones (UNC Wilmington, 1975) |
|
Career Record: 1,041-488-3 (26th season) |
|
Record at School: 765-395-2 (19th season) |
|
|
RECENT NEWS
Week 10 Recap l Brandt & Joyner Named To Pitcher-of-the-Year Watch List l Hoffman Feature l Merritt Named To Stopper List l Letterwinners and ECBL Games This Weekend
SERIES HISTORY
• This weekend's series will mark the 11th between the two C-USA foes since 2003 ... Tulane holds a commanding 9-1 all-time series lead and a 21-13 all-time record ... Last year the Pirates finally broke through an claimed its first-ever series against the Green Wave with a series sweep at Turchin Stadium ... ECU completed its perfect 4-0 record with a win at the 2011 C-USA Baseball Championships in Pearl, Miss., winning an extra inning affair 4-2 in 11 frames.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday: Tulane 4, East Carolina 1 (Final)
Saturday: Tulane 4, East Carolina 2 (Final)
Sunday: RHP Tyler Mapes (1-2, 6.33 ERA) vs. RHP Jharel Cotton (7-0, 3.39 ERA)
WHAT'S ON TAP THIS WEEKEND
• Saturday's game has been designated as Letterwinner's Day, where over 30 former Pirates will be recognized prior to first pitch (approximately 1:45) ... Sunday, the Pirates will host their annual ECBL (Exceptional Community Baseball League) Game approximately 30 minutes following the series finale.
THINGS TO KNOW
• When the two teams square off this weekend, the nation will see two of the Top 25 teams with the best winning percentages in college baseball since 1999. Tulane owns the 16th-best winning percentage (.659), while ECU comes in at No. 18 (.657) ... For the complete Top 25 list, see below ... The Pirates limp into this weekend's series having lost 6 of its last 10 games ... However of the six losses, three have come at the hands of No. 7 Rice (twice) and No. 10 North Carolina (once) - all on the road.
• Once again junior Jharel Cotton will look to help the Pirates salvage a game in a weekend series when he toes the rubber against Tulane Sunday morning ... The St. Thomas, V.I. native leads the team and Conference USA in wins (7) ... Allowed
24 Rs (20 ERs) in 54.2 innings ... Tied for sixth with 13 walks in C-USA ... Fanned a career-best 11 batters at No. 19 UCF (3/25/12) ... Recorded 43 strikeouts to 13 walks ... Picked up wins against Milwaukee, Stony Brook, No. 16 Louisville, Penn State, No. 19 UCF, Memphis and No. 7 Rice ... Tied for second on the team with five quality starts ... High school teammate of Austin Chrismon (Menchville HS) that won the 2009 National Championship (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game) ... Junior College transfer from Miami Dade.
• 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 23rd by WarrenNolan.com and 22nd 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 506-238-1 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)
