 |
| EAST CAROLINA PIRATES |
| Record |
32-16-1 |
| Last Game |
Win vs. Elon, 4-1 (5/8/12) |
| Head Coach |
Billy Godwin (Atlantic Christian, 1986) |
|
Career: 511-239-1 (13th season) |
|
ECU Record: 249-154-1 (7th season) |
| Twitter |
@ECUBaseball |
| NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS |
| Record |
35-13 |
| Last Game |
Win vs. UNC Wilmington, 4-2 (5/8/12) |
| Head Coach |
Mike Fox (North Carolina, ) |
|
Career Record: 1,164-400-5 (28th season) |
|
Record at School: 624-259-1 (14th season) |
|
|
RECENT NEWS
Week 12 Recap l Reynolds Named To Olerud Watch List
SERIES HISTORY
• Tonight's game will mark the second of the season and 75th between the two schools with North Carolina holding a commanding 49-25 lead ... Back on April 25, UNC escaped with a 1-0 home victory in 10 innings ... Freshman Jeff Hoffman tossed seven scoreless innings with five punch outs before turning the ball over to the Pirates bullpen ... The last time ECU claimed a win over their instate rival was back in 2009 when Kevin Brandt and the Pirates defeated the No. 1 Tar Heels, 4-0 inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Wednesday: RHP Mason McCullough (0-0, 4.90 ERA) vs. RHP Jeff Hoffman (2-1, 2.56 ERA)
THINGS TO KNOW
• With finals in the rearview mirror, the Pirates will look to continue their winning ways hosting instate rival No. 8 North Carolina (May 9) before closing out the 2012 Conference USA regular season on the road at Southern Miss (May 11-13) ... ECU has won its last five games (all at home) and are coming off their eighth weekend series win and second series sweep against Marshall ... With the three wins, the Pirates closed out its home C-USA schedule with an impressive 9-2-1 ledger.
• Sophomore Jeff Hoffman (2-1, 2.56 ERA) will get the start against No. 8 North Carolina on Wednesday - his second versus the Tar Heels this season ... Hoffman picked up his second win of the season (first in league play) on Sunday against Marshall ... The right-hander worked 2 1/3 innings in relief allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and combined on a three-hitter for the Pirates (Cotton-1, Hoffman-2, Reynolds-0) ... In nine appearances out of the bullpen, Hoffman sports a 1.84 ERA in 14.2 innings where he has allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits with seven strikeouts ... As a starter, he has recorded 32 strikeouts to just six walks in 37.2 innings with a 2.87 ERA ... Currently he ranks among the league leaders (all games) in opposing batting average (.208/3rd) and ERA (2.58/8th).
• Senior Tim Younger had his 26-game streak of reaching base halted against Elon following an 0-for-3 performance at the dish ... Currently he ranks first on the team with a .429 on-base percentage and is second on the team with a .323 (53-for-164) average ... Last week Younger collected three hits, drove in a run and scored a run.
• Redshirt junior Philip Clark batted a team-best .571 (4-for-7) on the week with three RBI ... In Saturday's extra inning contest, Clark came off the bench to post a pair of hits and in the 10th inning drove in the game winning run on a bunt single down the third base line that scored Zach Wright ... Sunday, he posted his second multi-hit game of the weekend going 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs ... On the season he is batting .278 (40-for-144) two doubles, triple, 16 RBI and 11 runs ... He now has 10 multi-hit games, which ranks seventh on the team.
• ECU's pitching staff posted a 2.57 ERA last week allowing 12 runs (eight earned) on 26 hits with 20 strikeouts ... On the season as a whole they sport a 3.05 ERA, which ranks third in C-USA and among the national leaders (top 30) ... In 48 games, ECU has allowed 193 runs (148 earned) with 332 strikeouts, 129 walks and are holding opposing hitters to a composite .250 average ... The bullpen has allowed 75 runs (51 earned) on 146 hits in 167.2 innings with a 2.74 ERA ... They have inherited 97 runners allowing 32 to score (33.0 percent).
NATIONAL POLLS
After falling out of the national rankings a week ago, ECU makes its return in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer Association (NCBWA) poll garnering a No. 30 ranking this week ... The Pirates are also receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN and Perfect Game polls.
RPI REPORT
In the latest RPI reports (May 7), the Pirates have the third-best RPI in Conference USA ranking 22nd by WarrenNolan.com and BoydsWorld.com ... In the NCAA's most recent RPI report that was released on May 1, the Pirates came in at No. 23.
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 510-239-1 record ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list (248) 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)
