East Carolina baseball coach Cliff Godwin will occasionally refer to some wisdom from his former ECU coach Keith LeClair.

“A baseball season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” LeClair would say.

The Pirates played a marathon within the marathon on Tuesday night as they took a 14-13 win in 13 innings at William & Mary. The contest lasted five hours and 30 minutes before ECU center fielder Ryley Johnson caught a deep fly ball with the bases loaded to finally subdue the Tribe.

Gary Overton, the coach who brought Godwin to the Pirates program, was doing the commentary for the ECU radio network on Tuesday night.

Overton, who coached 665 games for the Pirates, said he had not seen anything like the prolonged nonconference matchup that unfolded in Williamsburg.

“I’ve never seen anything like it either,” Godwin said Thursday. “I think it was just one of those nights where the home plate umpire (Tim Detweiler) didn’t really want to call strikes, and I’m not saying it was one-sided. It just was really hard to get a strike call. I think we punched out 22 guys on the mound, and I think only one was a called third strike. So if you weren’t swinging, you weren’t going to strike out. It didn’t seem like it. So no, it wasn’t drawn up like we planned it to draw it up, but it was good.
“As I told Coach (Austin) Knight (ECU pitching coach), we were forced to put some guys in the game on the mound that probably weren’t ready for that situation, but they had to go in there and they did a good job, the guys at the end to be able to just navigate it. So I was super proud of our guys. It would have been very easy, especially after we took the lead of the ninth inning and then they tied it up and then we scored two, I think in the 11th. They tied it up for our guys just to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t our night,’ and they just kept fighting. So, I was super proud of them.”

Schedule adjustments

The late finish of the contest resulted in some tweaks to the team’s schedule. The Pirates got a postgame meal, hours after its was intended for consumption.

“We had food,” Godwin said. “It was cold of course, but yeah, that’s part of what we do. We just manage it. We got home about 2:45 (a.m.). And (Wednesday),, the guys that played most of the innings and, of course, the pitchers, I mean it was just a treatment day and a lift weights day. They didn’t practice. And then we practiced with some younger guys and guys that are not getting as many opportunities, got them out there to do some things.”

The Pirates were scheduled to have a normal practice Thursday to prepare for a 3-game American Athletic Conference series with Wichita State that starts on Friday at 6 p.m. at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Midweek success

After an 0-2 start in midweek games, ECU has won seven straight. W&M has 25 wins, including a 4-2 triumph at No. 6 Duke on April 9.

The midweek wins over quality opponents will look good on the Pirates’ resume for the NCAA tournament.

“I told our guys before the game, before we even got on the bus, ‘This is a big opportunity for us.’ ” Fodwin said. “Not that it would make or break our season, but you never know what game is going to be the one that pushes you over the hump for the situation you would rather be in, postseason-wise. So I’m just proud of our guys. Like I said, just the fight they had. It wasn’t pretty. I mean, every Pirate fan on social media talking about how ugly it was, I don’t care. It was a win. So I’m glad our guys continued to fight and you got to win all different kinds of games. You got to win games that are well-pitched and great defense — not a lot of hitting, a 2-1game or a 1-0 game, and then you’ve got to win whatever the score game was Tuesday night. You’ve got to win those games as well.”

Developmental situation for pen

ECU used nine pitchers on Tuesday night with the bullpen getting a lot of opportunities to perform in demanding situations.

“The more you can get them out there in those really crucial situations, of course, the adrenaline’s going and you;ve got to be able to navigate all that stuff,” Godwin said. “You’re on the road. It’s a tight strike zone. So I was really proud of Erik Ritchie. He threw one clean inning and then went back out there for the second and the second didn’t go as planned/

“But for him to get back out there. And then Parker Thomas, the guy that’s had one appearance to close the game out. We needed somebody good just go in there and throw strikes and he was able to do that, which we needed and he did it.”

Bristol’s blast

Freshman Bristol Carter hit a 2-run homer for a 14-11 lead in the top of the 13th, which provided the winning margin when William & Mary scored twice in the bottom of the frame.

“It was a huge swing,” Godwin said. “Bristol has been steady Eddie. He’s a gamer. Of course he’s talented, but for freshmen to come in and play college baseball in a top 10 program, not that it can’t be done. It’s just not done as much anymore around college baseball. I told Coach Knight and of course we didn’t win the game on Sunday, but what team in the top 10 in the country has got three freshmen starting on Sunday?

“We had Colby Wallace at third, Bristol in left and Ethan Norby starting on the mound for us, and that’s just going to pay dividends for us down the road. So I’ve been super proud of the guys that have been able to go in there and do it no matter what their class is.”

Carter played on the high school level at Northwest Guilford.

“He’s a freak athlete,” Godwin said. “I mean, he was a high school football player at a high level. Great runner, super competitive, high energy guy. He can hit for power, can steal bases. I mean, that’s the part of this game he’s going to continue to work on. It’s just a stolen base area. He’s fast, but there’s a difference.

” .. A lot of the pitchers don’t have a good pickoff move in high school. They don’t go to first a lot. Well, now guys do that. So he’s still working through some of that stuff,. But he’s putting together tough at-bats for us. And really hitting in the middle of our lineup as a freshman is pretty impressive.

Carter is hitting .355 with two homers and 24 RBIs. He is 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.

Starling status

ECU has been playing without senior Jacob Starling at second base. Godwin is hopeful he will be available soon.
“Day to day. I would say it would be,” Godwin said. “Just a breath of fresh air. If we could get him in there this weekend at some point, and it’s not tomorrow, I would say it would probably be Sunday, but we’ll see. He’s getting better, but we have just got to make sure we don’t push him too quickly because it’s one of those things and an oblique issue. If you redo it, I mean then you’re probably talking about a month, so we’re trying to just make sure he’s ready to go.irt”

Fan support

ECU’s fan support has not been limited to crowds at or near capacity at home. There was a vocal contingent of Pirate fans at William & Mary.

“It’s awesome,” Godwin said. “No matter where we go. We’re down in Boca and I felt like we had close to 100 fans down there. It was awesome. And William & Mary, there was a big crowd at least early, and I think people got tired of sitting through that long game, so they left, but it was a really good environment.”

Shockers

Wichita State leads the series with ECU, 11-8, after sweeping at home in 2023.

“They’re good,” Godwin said. “I think they’re one game behind us in the conference and it doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to play well. So we want our guys to play well, starting with tomorrow night when Trey (Yesavage) is pitching. So that’s the main focus. Worry about ourselves and play our best brand of baseball.”

Terrific tandem

Yesavage and Zach Root have given ECU a 1-2 punch as Friday and Saturday starters. Their combined record is 12-1.

“Trey is just an extremely focused individual,” Godwin said. The work he puts in everyday to prepare him for a start is as professional and mature as any guy I’ve ever been around. He’s worked hard with Coach Knight developing his pitches. His split finger has really come on this year, so he has really got four pitches. He’s extremely competitive when he goes out there on Friday night. He’s a stud and a great leader on our team too. Got a lot of guys that look up to him. If he says something, people listen. He doesn’t talk a whole lot, but when he says something, people listen.

“And then Root, he’s gained some weight, some strength. He worked hard with Coach Knight just with spinning the ball with his breaking ball and his cutter, which are better this year. And then he’s always had his change up and those two guys really compete with one another, just wanting to pitch. Great for our team, but also competing against one another who has the best outing. So it’s fun to watch those guys go out there on Friday and Saturday.”