East Carolina got back from an 11-8 win over Gardner-Webb in Fayetteville on Tuesday night around midnight.

Wednesday was another day and a chance to make a step forward as a team. Despite what amounted to almost an inch of rain in Greenville, Coach Cliff Godwin said the Pirates would be able to get some work in preparation for a weekend series with No. 24 Coastal Carolina.

“It’s supposed to rain, so we’re going to lift weights and we’re going to probably to get some swings in the cages and throw some bullpens,” Godwin said Wednesday morning.

Hunter back with a vengeance

Senior right-hander Jake Hunter got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game with Gardner-Webb, completing a 5-inning stint with seven whiffs.

“He was awesome,’ Godwin said. “I mean, just great to see him continue to get better after being about nine months out of Tommy John surgery. Super composed in a very tight strike zone, just managed the last five innings, which is what we needed. We needed somebody to go out there and settle it down. He was tremendous.”

Young slugger

Freshman Austin Irby is hitting .308 and leads the Pirates in home runs with four.

He knocked a pair over the fence at Segra Stadium on Tuesday night.

“Austin is a really good hitter,” Godwin said. “He’s super confident. … He believes in himself. When he steps in the box, he’s got a plan and he thinks he’s as good as anybody in the country.

“If there was one thing I wish I could give some of these other freshmen is just the belief in themselves that they can get the job done.”

Irby’s brother, Michael, is a right-handed pitcher who is a redshirt freshman for ECU.

“It was an early commit,” recalled Godwin of the recruiting process with the first-year first baseman. “His brother’s a year older. His brother’s on our team too, and he redshirted last year.

“We definitely thought he could come in and be an immediate impact in the line-up offensively and he’s done a really good job.”

Journeyman John Collins boosts power

John Collins leads the team with a .357 average. He has two dingers in seven games.

“John is, he’s an unbelievable human being,” Godwin said. “This is his sixth year.  … He went to a Division III and then Boston College and had another year of eligibility. … I don’t want to speak for John, but he just didn’t have a lot of options.

“We called him kind of late in the summer just to give us some depth catching wise and maybe being an offensive weapon for us. But the amount of knowledge he’s poured into our younger guys about other places he’s been and college life and baseball — everything.

“Then he’s got power in the bat and he’s swung the bat good for us, definitely given us a spark.”

Ryley Johnson prognosis

A healthy Ryley Johnson will be an asset. Johnson hit .339 last year with four homers and 33 RBIs but is yet to play in 2025. He has been way above average as a center fielder.

“The MRI shows some inflammation in a lot of different areas in his midsection, but we feel like we can get the inflammation down and hopefully in a couple weeks he’ll be able to go,” Godwin said. “He’s been swinging with no pain, throwing. Really just the running piece is the last part of it. So once we can get him comfortable running and being able to manage that, then he’ll be out there.

“He had both shoulders redone in the fall, so he was missed fall practice because of both his labrum surgeries on his shoulders.

“Once he was released to do lower body, he probably overworked himself some, which has made this issue come to the forefront. He was dealing with it right before Christmas. We were able to manage it and build him back up.

“He had played in a couple of scrimmages the weekend before the season opened and was feeling it a little bit, but not to the point he couldn’t play. And then at practice in the week leading up to the first game, it just got really bad, so we had to shut him down and go back to the drawing board and make sure that we weren’t missing anything.

“He got a couple MRIs last week just to make sure we ruled out sports hernia and all that good stuff.”

Hurlers shelved

The Pirates should be deeper with the mound staff as the season develops.

Junior left-hander Ryan Towers, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, and sophomore right-hander Brett Antolick, who appeared in four games at Texas A&M in 2024,  have not seen action to date.

“Antolick should be back hopefully by the end of March,” Godwin said. “Ryan Towers has just started playing catch this week after dealing with a little bit of an arm issue. We’ve got a couple other guys that are just dealing with some lingering stuff that’s been long-term, but those two are the main guys.”

Pirates on the rise

ECU has won three in a row and four of its last five to improve to 6-6. looking more like the program that has won five straight American Athletic Conference regular season championships.

The Pirates had 27 new faces on the opening day roster and some staff additions as well.

“We’re the third winningest team since 2018 behind Tennessee and Arkansas,” Godwin said. “So when you really sit back and look at that and say, ‘Well yeah, you haven’t played the College World Series.’

“Yeah, that’s true. But as far as that consistent winning that we’ve done here, I mean it’s third in the country like East Carolina University, not some big Power Five school that’s paying all these players. It’s really a credit to our players, our staff, the hard work and the culture that we’ve built here.

“And yeah, this team, it’s our story and no offense, it’s not the media story, it’s not the fan story, it’s our story and if we continue to learn from mistakes and continue to grow, this team is definitely talented enough to do a lot of great things at end the season.”

Pitch clock

The Pirates were awarded some balls in the count against Gardner-Webb for pitch clock violations.

“It was more on their side,” Godwin said. “The rule is you can’t start moving in your set position or your delivery until the hitters eyes are up or eight seconds on the clock. They were just going a little bit too quick.”

Chanticleers in Chapel Hill

UNC is a common opponent for the Coastal and the Pirates. The Tar Heels went 3-0 in a multi-site series with ECU. The Chanticleers were topped, 5-4, in 11 innings in Chapel Hill on Tuesday,

Coastal is 10-3 with eight wins over teams from power conferences.

The Chanticleers won the NCAA Tournament in 2016.

“It’s exciting,” Godwin said. “I mean, they’ve been very consistent having a great program and it’s tough to do a midweek game with Coastal because it’s about three hours. Really no easy way to get there on both ends. So yeah, we’ve got this going and it’ll be a good thing moving forward.”

Coach O’s record, for now

Gary Overton holds the ECU program record for career wins as coach with 427. Godwin could exceed that number this season.

Overton graciously said recently that he hopes the record is broken sooner rather than later because it would mean that the Pirates are winning games.

Godwin has 403 wins. He was recruited by Overton to play at ECU.

The record is not his primary focus.

“I didn’t come here to be the winningest baseball coach in ECU history,” Godwin said. “I came here to develop young men, win championships and have a great culture. Whether guys play Major League Baseball or they go out into the real world, hopefully we’ve helped their tool set to be successful as a husband, a father, and somebody that can impact people in a positive way the rest of their lives.”

New staff members functioning well

The Pirates have several new staff members who are performing well.

“Eddie Loesner is our new director of baseball operations,” Godwin said. “He played here, was actually the operations guy for Coach (Keith) LeClair, so he’s a Pirate.

“We’ve got a new strength coach, Hunter Reeves. “He’s done a tremendous job with our players. Super knowledgeable. He is an extension of our coaching staff. Hunter Martin, an athletic trainer, came from the Chicago Cubs organization. He was working out in Arizona. Super knowledgeable for baseball-specific, not just injuries, but helping pitchers with their arm care, their body movements, all that good stuff, which is a big deal in the today’s game.

“A new academic advisor, Fallon Morella, and she’s hitting the ground running. We had the highest semester GPA (grade point average), I think we’ve ever had here, a 3.75 in the fall, which makes, I think, seven and a half years of having a 3.4 or higher on team GPA, which is outstanding.

“So super excited about these guys and girls. They’ve done a great job so far.”