East Carolina’s offense pivoted 180 degrees on Tuesday in a 19-9 win in seven innings at Old Dominion as the Pirates rapped out 18 hits.
ECU had three crooked number innings — eight runs in the fourth, seven in the fifth and four more in the sixth.
The Pirates were coming off a 13-1 loss at home on Sunday to Wichita State.
“We really needed our offense to score a lot of runs,” said 12th-year ECU coach Cliff Godwin on Thursday. “We were very thin on the mound with the guys that were available.
“Colby Wallace had to come in from third base and make his first appearance this year on the mound. He’s pitched in the past, but hadn’t pitched at all this year.
“He came in and got us out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to allow us to 10-run rule them, get on the bus and head home.”
Running of the Bulls
The Pirates host South Florida for a 3-game American Conference series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
“South Florida has a really good overall record,” Godwin said “They’re well coached (Mitch Hannahs). They pitch at a high level. They play great defense.
“We’ll have our hands full like we always do. We’re one game out of first place. We can finish strong and have the ability to compete for a conference championship.”
Texas-San Antonio and Alabama-Birmingham lead the league with 10-5 conference records.
Injury report
Gavin Van Kempen is lost for the season, but the news is better for some others currently sidelined with ailments.
“Van Kempen is having surgery May 7th,” Godwin said.
Van Kempen made six starts for ECU as a senior transfer from West Virginia and had a team-low 1.84 earned run average. Van Kempen had 45 strikeouts in 29 and one-third innings.
Freshman right-hander Colby Weber has had five starts with a 4.58 ERA.
“Colby is rehabbing,” Godwin said. “We’re praying that he will be able to start playing catch at the end of April, and then we will ramp him up, which will be a slow process, but we’ve got to make sure we protect Colby.
“If everything goes well, then he will be available in the conference tournament.”
The American Conference tournament is May 19-24 in Clearwater, FL.
Center fielder Grady Lanahan was hit by a pitch in the Wichita State series opener on April 17 and sustained a broken nose.
“Grady is still in the evaluation process,” Godwin said. “He is going to see a specialist (Thursday, April 23). We should have some more clarity on what the outlook is. He will not play this weekend. He’s still got stitches in his nose.”
Infielder Carlos Jacome is a transfer from South Florida.
“He’s hurt,” Godwin said. “He’s got a hand, wrist issue that we’re trying to manage. He can play defense okay right now, but he cannot swing a bat.”
Outfielder Jack Vogele has been out for an extended period with a situation relating to an extra bone in his foot. When he will return is not clear.
Ward, wedding
Bryant Ward is assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at No. 1 UCLA. He stays in touch with Godwin, his former Pirate teammate.
“We’re really good friends,” Godwin said. “He was in our wedding. Bryant was my roommate for three years.
“They have a really good team and they’re playing at a very, very high level, obviously.”
Godwin married ECU assistant track coach Brie Berkowitz on Dec. 6.
“She was a pole vaulter here at East Carolina,” Godwin said. “Then she was assistant track coach here for nine years. She was at Penn State for the past four years as an assistant track coach. And now she’s back in Greenville.”
Hitting numbers up
East Carolina has seven regulars hitting over .300. The group includes Jack Herring (.354), Davin Whitaker (.354), Braden Burress (.347), Jeff Sabater (.341), Matthew Lashley (.319), Colby Wallace (.312) and Grady Lanahan (.310).
The Pirates are hitting .298 as a team, which compares favorably to their .277 batting average in 2025.
Jake Gautreau is in his first season as hitting coach at ECU. He was an assistant at Mississippi State and his alma mater, Tulane, following a pro career. Gautreau helped the Bulldogs to the College World Series championship in 2021.
“Coach Gautreau is awesome,” Godwin said. “Bryant Packard has assisted him as well.
“Our job is to develop baseball players, develop young men and win baseball games. So it doesn’t matter really who gets the credit. It’s ‘Hey, we need to do a good job.’
“If you see something and you’re a hitting coach on the pitching side of things, speak up to all of us. We’re in this together and we’re baseball coaches.
“But yes, Jake and Pack have done a really good job.
“Our guys are doing a good job, doing a better job than they did last year and we really like Coach Gautreau being here.”
Stadium renovations
Capacity of Clark-LeClair Stadium is listed as 6,000 with a renovation in progress that will increase seating.
“It’s not going to add a ton of seats,” Godwin said. “It’s going to add a premium level, maybe 300 more bodies, and I’m ballparking.”
ECU has been in the first base dugout this season while the work is going on.
“Next year, we’ll be back in the third base dugout,” Godwin said.
League tougher
The departure of Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston to the Big 12 seemed to make the American Conference weaker in football and basketball.
But ECU’s superiority in baseball in the American has been reduced with those exits and the addition of six teams from Conference USA.
“This is a very good year for the American in baseball,” Godwin said. “I mean, there’s a lot of great teams.
“You look at it and there’s some really good head coaches in the league. We’ve added some really good head coaches over the past couple years, one being Mitch Hannahs at South Florida.
“There’s a lot of programs that are doing a good job and it is definitely more competitive this year than it has been in years past, in my opinion, from top to bottom.”
ABS system
Major League Baseball has gone to an automatic ball-strike challenge system this season. Either team can have a ball or strike called reviewed and the results are produced quickly.
Godwin doesn’t think such a system will be instituted on the college level right away.
“It’s probably a few years away for sure,” he said. “It would probably impact budgets and stuff. In college athletics, you don’t have unlimited budgets.”
Leave a Reply