N.C. State is averaging 8.2 runs per game. East Carolina limited the nationally-ranked Wolfpack to just two runs on Tuesday, but the problem was the Pirates’ inability to generate some offense of their own in a 2-0 loss to their regional rivals from Raleigh.
“I thought we really pitched well, played good defense,” said Cliff Godwin on Wednesday. “Our offense didn’t show up, which is on me. I’m the head coach, so we didn’t show up and got beat 2-0. Really unfortunate. We had a good crowd (4,813). Couldn’t get the crowd into it, and had a great opportunity to beat a really good team, and we just didn’t do enough offensively.”
The Pirates (14-12) were limited to three hits by the Wolfpack (16-8), ranked No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball.
Pitch counts
Godwin was asked about current pitch counts for starters.
“Well, it depends on who they are,” said the ECU coach. “I mean, (Jake) Kuchmaner’s obviously been starting the entire year, so his pitch count is more than somebody like a Ryder Giles who’s only been starting for us for a week.”
C.J. Mayhue made his first start against State and threw 58 pitches.
“His first start, thought he did a really good job,” Godwin said. “I mean, he wouldn’t have given up a run if we hadn’t had missed the ball behind the plate. … He threw close to 60 pitches. … , which was the most we wanted him to throw and so that’s why we took him out after the third inning.”
Absence of Whisenhunt
Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt was projected as ECU’s top starter in 2022 after going 6-2 last year with a 3.77 earned run average in 13 starts. A preseason All-American, Whisenhunt was ruled ineligible for using performance enhancing drugs by the NCAA after being suspended by Godwin just before the current campaign got underway.
The Pirates have been forced to adjust to his absence.
“He’s not a part of our team, so I’m worried about the guys that are on our team,” Godwin said. “You have injury, you have people that don’t do what they need to do and things happen and you got to move on. That’s life.”
Baseball weather
The start of the State game was moved from Tuesday night to 4:30 p.m. due to the forecast of colder weather. There is a high of 73 forecast for Cincinnati on Friday, with ECU taking on the Bearcats to start play in the American Athletic Conference.
“We’ve had some warm weather,” Godwin said. “I mean, we’ve just got to be more consistent and you know, a big piece is offensively, but sometimes when we score runs, we don’t pitch well. We just got to be more consistent in showing up every day and doing what we need to do. And yes, we’re young in some areas, so the youth exposes us at times, but they’re getting a lot of opportunities.
“So I do think we’ll be better at the end of season than we are right now.”
Expectations
The Pirates were ranked as high as No. 8 in preseason polls. Problems began as ECU was swept at home by Bryant, which is currently 9-12, to start the season.
Regardless of rankings, ECU deals with expectations.
“The expectations are here every year,” Godwin said. “I mean, look, when’s the last time we haven’t been preseason ranked? … I don’t know. So, it is what it is.
“And when you come to East Carolina, there’re expectations and I definitely don’t run from them. I put more pressure on myself than anybody could ever imagine to put on me from the outside looking in. So I self-evaluate every single day, look in the mirror every single day and that doesn’t bother me and yeah, sure, kids read it. Yep. And that’s the world we live in, but at end of the day, that’s happened for years here.”
AAC
The Pirates start their AAC schedule at Cincinnati on Friday at 5 p.m. The Bearcats will play in Greenville on April 29-May 1.
“We leave pretty early (Thursday),” Godwin said. “We’ll leave around 7 a.m., drive to Raleigh, fly to Cincinnati, get there, practice for a little bit. And then play Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
The league series will be three games rather than four, as in 2021.
“I hope we never have to play four, 9-inning games in three days,” Godwin said. “That wasn’t fun for anybody. So it’s good to be back to the 3-game weekends.”
Godwin has been primarily focused on his program at ECU.
“I’m just caught up in our team and what we do day to day,” he said. “So, I’m sorry I can’t give you more information on who I think is going to be good (in the AAC). You know, we can beat anybody in the country when we play well and we can lose to anybody in the country when we don’t. So, we just need to focus on ourselves.”
Kuch
Senior left-hander Jake Kuchmaner will get the ball Friday evening. Kuchmaner is 3-1 in six starts with a 2.73 ERA after some struggles in 2021.
“We’ll go Kuchmaner on Friday and then we’ll figure out the rest,” Godwin said. “He’s just worked really hard, he and Coach (Austin) Knight (pitching coach) have done a really good job getting him back to himself. And he’s been a great leader on our team and he’s done what he had done his entire career, except last year.”
Need to improve
Godwin feels improvement is imperative in certain areas.
“I think we can get a little bit better in all facets,” said the Pirates coach. “You know, we probably need about two more guys out of the bullpen to kind of step up a little bit. Offensively of course, we need to be more consistent. We’ve shown flashes of being really good and then we’ve shown flashes of not being good at all.
“We just need to be more consistent with our play in all three phases, which defensively, has been the one thing that we’ve done a really good job of all year. So I would say offensively, number one and then pitching — getting a couple more relievers so we can not go to (Garrett) Saylor, Mayhue, and (Carter) Spivey all the time.”
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