The postgame news conference Monday after East Carolina’s season ended with a 6-5 loss to Evansville in the championship game of the Greenville regional was about what six seniors had meant to the program and what playing for the Pirates had meant to them.

Coach Cliff Godwin led off after the  Pirates went 46-17 in his 10th season with a fifth straight American Athletic Conference regular season championship. ECU was ranked a high as No. 5 by D1 Baseball before injuries took a toll on the pitching staff. The Pirates played in the NCAA Tournament for the 34th time but are yet to make a trip to Omaha for the College World Series.

“I am sorry that I couldn’t do more for these guys,” Godwin said. “They deserve better. Fans deserve better. Life’s not fair as we know. But, as I told Carter (Cunningham), our faith’s going to stay strong because it’s God’s plan, not ours.

“But these guys and our whole team gave us everything they had. Unfortunately, we didn’t have quite enough in the tank to finish off today. Thanks to the fans, we wouldn’t even be within one run in the last game if it wasn’t for them all weekend.

“We appreciate that. This is a special place. Like I said, earlier this weekend, these young men that are sitting to my left have been with our program and me — Carter for three years, Star (Jacob Starling) for four. Cam Clonch for four, (Joey Berini) for four, (Justin Wilcoxen) for five, and Danny (Beal) for four.

“I want these guys to be remembered as champions, of course, because they’re champions on the field, but they’re champions in life.

“All the money Carter’s raised with the homers that help the children’s hospital is close to $30,000. Our guys doing it in the classroom/

“Our fans and everybody want to win. And I can promise you nobody wants to win more than our coaching staff and these guys and what they invest into it year-round.

“It’s a year-round job. And it doesn’t get easier when I continue to have these press conferences and we haven’t gone to the College World Series, but at the end of the day, unless you win the national championships, you’re disappointed.

“So it’s hard to win college baseball games, especially in the landscape of college athletics.

“This group has been very consistent. Chip (Welch, ECU media relations) could get you all the stats, but four conference championships, how many regionals did you win Danny? Two. Two, yeah. So hosted three. So a lot of accolades, but I’m just so proud of them. There’s not enough time for me to talk about what these guys mean to me. They’ll be lifelong friends to me.”

J-Dub

Wilcoxen was asked if ECU ran out of gas during a run through the losers bracket.

“I don’t think we ran out of gas,” said the ECU catcher. “I think we just didn’t do what we needed to do to win. To be honest with you, I think this group has been the offense that can put together whatever it needs to win ball games. And I think we did our best today but we didn’t do quite enough to win the game.”

Carter Cunningham

The ECU first baseman, who was the AAC Player of the Year, spoke in spiritual terms. He hit a deep fly ball in the eighth on Monday that the wind appeared to keep in the park.

“It wasn’t God’s plan,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day, I just want to take a second and say how blessed I am to be here to have brothers. I never even told Coach Godwin this, but about probably halfway through the season I stopped looking at him like a coach and I started looking at him like a Christian mentor.

“I’ve never had a coach like that and I love him for that and I love these guys and I’m just blessed beyond measure to even have the opportunity to be here. I’m thankful for it all. And one thing that, when I go home at night, I can say I left this place better than I found it. And all these guys can say that. All the seniors on this team can say that. Nobody wants it worse than us. But thank you, Jesus.”

Danny Beal

The right-hander was a versatile performer for the pitching staff compiling an 8-2 record in 35 appearances with s 3,38 earned run average.

“One thing that I can say that we can all say is that we gave everything we had for as long as we were here,” Beal said. “I love every single one of these guys like brothers, and we just didn’t do enough, but I don’t know when it’s going to be, but we’re going to go (to Omaha).. And when we go, we’re all going to be there watching. But I’m just so proud of everybody on this panel, how much coach has meant to us and meant to me and the entire coaching staff has been awesome. Just so thankful to be a Pirate.”

Future pitching

There will be some significant voids to fill on the pitching staff.

“Some of those younger guys in our pen are going to do some incredible things in the next few years,” Wilcoxen said. “The things we had to go through with three, four of our best arms going down late in the season. I mean the bullpen did an incredible job. We have a lot of potential there.”

Community contributions

Cunningham commented on what the team has been able to do in its work in the community,

“It’s a platform from God,” Cunningham said. “I thought this group utilized it to the best of their ability. I’m proud of each and every single one of these guys. I mean, I think the work we do off the field is far more important than a game we get to play.

“I’ve been doing this since T-ball and so just, I mean 6,000 people just came to watch me play a baseball game. Think about that. That’s incredible. And I thank Pirate Nation for that. But it’s a game and I think that the impact that we’ve had on the community and in the classroom is far more lasting than any win or loss we’ll ever have.

“In God’s plan, all that is eternal. This is temporary. And so yeah, it stings right now, but I thought we planted a lot of seeds and if one person came to know Jesus in my time here at East Carolina, then it was the greatest victory of all.”

Joey Berini

Berini was solid at shortstop and flexed his muscles for four home runs with 36 RBIs in 2024.

“All these guys right here, that’s the biggest thing I’m going to miss is being around them every day,” Berini said. “I mean they’ve been my best friends for four years now.”

Cam Clonch

Clonch alluded to his journey as a Pirate.

“When we were freshmen in the dorms, we had no idea what we were getting into,” Clonch said. “No idea that we would’ve played in four regionals, hosted three of them and won two of them. But this place is special to me and there’s a reason I’m still sitting here.

“I don’t know what more we could have done. I mean we just went a couple more pitches here or there and we’re playing next weekend. I had all the confidence in the world that we were going to go into Knoxville and bust that door down. But it just wasn’t the plan. And sometimes it’s hard to see that, but God’s got a greater plan for all of us sitting up here.”