May 31, 2012
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| EAST CAROLINA PIRATES |
| Record |
35-22-1 |
| Last Game |
Win vs. UAB, 10-3 (5/26/12) |
| Head Coach |
Billy Godwin (Atlantic Christian, 1986) |
|
Career: 514-245-1 (13th season) |
|
ECU Record: 252-160-1 (7th season) |
| Twitter |
@ECUBaseball |
| ST. JOHN'S RED STORM |
| Record |
37-21 |
| Last Game |
Win vs. USF, 7-3 (5/27/12) |
| Head Coach |
Ed Blankmeyer (Seton Hall, 1976) |
|
Career Record: N/A |
|
Record at School: 549-327-3 (16th season |
|
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RECENT NEWS
Post-Practice Interviews (May 31)
Pirates Headed To Chapel Hill Regional
Baseball Visits Children's Hospital
Younger Finalist For Fans Choice Award
CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL LINKS
Tournament Central
Interactive Bracket
Ticket Information
NCAA Bracket 
ECU in the Post-Season
SERIES HISTORY
• Friday's game against St. John's will mark the eighth all-time meeting between the two schools and the third in NCAA post-season play ... Last year both teams were in the Charlottesville Regional with the Pirates as the two-seed and the Red Storm as the three-seed ... St. John's defeated ECU in the first game of the 2011 regional sending the Pirates to the loser's bracket ... Both teams met again in an elimination game on Championship Sunday, with the Pirates coming out on top 6-4 and moving forward to face-off against overall No. 1 national seed Virginia, where they eventually loss, 13-1.
2012 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional Schedule
Friday, June 1
Game 1: #2 East Carolina (35-22-1) vs. #3 St. John's (37-21), 11 a.m.
Probable Starters:RHP Jeff Hoffman (3-1, 3.37 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Hansen (4-5, 3.44 ERA)
Game 2: #1 North Carolina (44-14) vs. #4 Cornell (31-15-1), 50 minutes after game 1
Probable Starters:LHP Hobbs Johnson (6-1, 1.37 ERA) vs. RHP Connor Kaufman (7-2, 4.00 ERA)
Saturday, June 2
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 3
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 4
Game 7: 6 p.m. - If necessary
THINGS TO KNOW
• ECU is making its 26th NCAA Regional appearance where they own a 30-51 all-time record ... This is the Pirates fifth appearance under Billy Godwin, where he has guided ECU to three regional finals including a championship title in 2009 advancing to the Chapel Hill Super Regional ... ECU boasts a .500 record (9-9) under Godwin.
• Conference USA All-Freshman Team member Jeff Hoffman will get the start against St. John's in the regional opener ... He is the first freshman since Kevin Brandt (2009) to start an NCAA Regional game ... Hoffman Notes: Earned C-USA Pitcher-of-the-Week honors on Apr. 16 ... Tossed career-high eight shutout innings with a career-best 10 strikeouts in last outing at Elon (4/10) ... Had 20.2 scorless inning streak snapped against UNC Wilmington (4/17) ... Started one game in C-USA action (USM) ... Had scoreless outings vs. No. 10 UNC (4/25) and UNCW (4/3) ... Second career win came in relief against Marshall (5/6) ... Recorded third win against UAB in C USA Championships ... Suffered lone loss against UNCW (4/17) allowing 6 runs (all earned) on 8 hits in 4.2 inning with 6 Ks ... Three starts have been against nationally-ranked teams ... Ranks among league leaders in Opp. BA (3rd), fewest Rs (6th), fewest BBs (t7th) and fewest ERs (9th) ... Among the NCAA leaders in Hits per 9 innings (51st/6.88) and WHIP (68th/1.07).
• Senior LHP Kevin Brandt (7-6, 1.85 ERA) is scheduled to make his fourth NCAA Regional start on Saturday, June 2 ... In three NCAA post-season games, he owns a 1-1 record with a 4.16 ERA ... As a freshman, he defeated South Carolina in the Greenville Regional working 8 1/3 strong innings allowing four runs (all earned) on nine hits with four strikeouts ... He started game two of the Chapel Hill Super Regional in 2009 suffering the loss after allowing three runs in five full innings with five strikeouts and three walks ... Last year he started against St. John's in the Pirates 6-4 win in a non-decision after working four innings where he surrendered three runs (one earned on six hits with three strikeouts ... Brandt Notes: First-Team All C-USA selection ... Set a single-game record with 3 pickoffs vs. MAR(5/4) ... Allowed 4 runs (3 ERs) in all 7 wins (MILW, Stony Brook, ALA, HOU, MEM, MAR, HPU) tossing a total of 48.0 IPs allowing 29 Hs with 37 Ks ... Losses vs. PUR, No. 19 UCF (CG), No. 7 Rice (CG), TUL (twice, 1 CG), USM (CG) ... Leads the team with 13 quality starts ... Four of six losses have been complete games ... Ranks 18th nationally in ERA (1.85) , 28th in starts (15), 41st in complete games (4) and 83rd in Hits per 9 innings (7.24) Among the C-USA leaders in nine categories including IP (1st), pickoffs (1st), ERA (2nd), wins (t5th), Opp. BA (6th) and Ks (8th) ... Owns a 26-18 career record with 270 Ks and a 3.10 ERA.
• John Wooten earned first-team All C-USA honors alongside fellow upperclassman Kevin Brandt ... It was his second career league honor to go along with his all-freshman selection in 2010 ... During his junior campaign, Wooten leads the team in average (.341), home runs (eight), runs scored (48) and total bases (113), while sharing the team lead in RBI (38) ... Currently ranks among the league leaders in six offensive categories: total bases (t4th), hits (5th/77), runs (t5th), home runs (t6th), average (8th) and slugging percentage (t9th/.500).
• The trio of Wooten, Ben Fultz and Chase McDonald earned Charlottesville All-Regional honors in 2011 and enter this weekends regional with hits in all four of the career regional games ... Wooten, a unanimous selection, batted .500 (8-for-16) with an RBI, double and two runs scored .... Led the regional with eight base hits, while ranking fourth with nine total bases ... Fultz batted 333 (5-for-15) with a double and run scored ... McDonald rounded out the Pirates selections after batting .438 (7-for-16) with a home run, five RBI and a pair of runs ... Ranked among the regional leaders in home runs (t-1st), RBI (t-1st), total bases (t-1st) and hits (t-2nd) ... He belted his first career grand slam against Navy in ECU's 6-1 victory.
SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
The Red Storm won its seventh Big East title on Sunday with a 7-3 victory over South Florida, paving the way for the program's third straight and 34th all-time NCAA appearance ... St. John's ranks 36th in the country with 365 runs, but is just 100th with a .284 batting average ... Leading the way is senior Matt Wessinger with a .348 average, six home runs, 45 RBI and has swiped 34 of 36 base attempts ... Junior Jeremy Baltz, a three-time All-Big East Conference First-Team selection is batting .342 with seven homers, 49 RBI and 10 doubles ... The pitching staff is led by junior Sean Hagan, who the Pirates saw in the 2011 Charlottesville Regional ... The left-hander owns an 8-2 ledger with 63 strikeouts to 21 walks and sports a 2.58 ERA ... ECU will see right-hander Kyle Hansen Friday morning, who is 4-5 on the season with a 3.44 ERA and has a team-best 100 strikeouts ranking 34th nationally.
NATIONAL POLLS
The Pirates are receiving votes in both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls.
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 514-245-1 record ... He ranks second all-time on ECU's wins list (252) 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)
