East Carolina has been getting in its preparation for the American Conference tournament in Clearwater after completing a 3-game sweep of Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton on Saturday.
There has been time for some activities in addition to practice without a game in the league event until Friday at 9 a.m.
“We lifted weights at FAU on Sunday and took them to a nice dinner Sunday night because they got a 3.74 team GPA (grade point average, spring semester),” said ECU coach Cliff Godwin. “That was their academic reward dinner.
“Then (Monday), we practiced at FAU and then we drove to Miami and watched batting practice (before the Braves-Marlins game). The guys were able to get on the field. So, with Clayton McCullough (manager) and Connor Norby (corner infielder) being on the Marlins, they got us on the field with batting practice passes.
“We watched probably the first six innings of the game. We saw Norby had four plate appearances. We got to spend some time with some Pirates, so it was fun.”
Miami downed the Braves, 12-0, for the biggest margin of defeat ever for Atlanta in a shutout loss. Norby went 1-for-3 with a run and two walks.
McCullough and Godwin were teammates at ECU.
“He told me it was the best game they had played this season,” Godwin said.
First road series win
Godwin shared some thoughts on ECU’s first road series win this season.
“We played really well,” he said. “Ryan Towers (game one starter) was really good. (Ethan) Norby (game two starter) was really good. Luke Payne (game three starter) was really good.
“All three starters did a really good job and our bullpen did a good job.”
The Owls were limited to eight runs in three games while the Pirates totaled 26.
“We grinded on their pitchers and they actually have a few, especially their Friday night guy (James Litman), which was a Thursday night guy, is really good and their number two is good. So our guys just did a good job of executing what our plan was.
“Just playing team offense and grinding on the pitcher, then getting into the bullpen.”
Tuesday bus ride
The Pirates worked out Tuesday at FAU and then made the bus ride to Clearwater. The trip is a little over four hours.
The tournament gets underway with a pair of elimination games on Wednesday. Wichita State plays Florida Atlantic at 1 p.m. and Wichita State meets Charlotte 47 minutes after the completion of the first game.
The winners advance to the double-elimination portion of the event.
Early game Friday
As the No. 2 seed, the Pirates will face a yet-to-be-determined opponent on Friday at 9 a.m. The pregame schedule will start early.
“Nothing really changes other than it’s just that early wake-up call,” Godwin said. “I told the guys, when you play the first game, you don’t have to worry about weather.
“You don’t have to worry about a (preceding) game going longer. You play the first game. So yeah, it’s an early wake-up call, but at the end of the day, you’re playing baseball.”
It will be early to bed Thursday night and early to rise Friday morning.
“We’ll most likely have the hitters meeting probably at night and then just have a team meeting (in the morning),” Godwin said. “But I mean, breakfast will be for sure 6 a.m., 5:30 probably.
“I think our batting practice is at 7:18 or something.”
Weber out
The Pirates had hoped to have Colby Weber back for the league tournament but that’s not happening.
“He is not going to pitch this year,” Godwin said.
Weber, a freshman right-hander, had made five starts and was 1-1 with a 4.58 earned run average when an ailment sidelined him.
Saturday starter Gavin Van Kempen and bullpen force Sean Jenkins have also been lost to injuries.
Format gets thumbs up
Godwin likes the American’s new tournament format.
“I didn’t like it last year,” he said. “I like it this year. It’s a lot different. … That’s why we don’t have to play until Friday. The years past, the one and two seeds play on Tuesday, which is crazy. So you don’t protect anybody from the regular season.
“They finally got that changed in the offseason, so that’s a good thing.”
Solid nucleus back
The Pirates have an experienced group of players who contributed to the run to the league tournament title in 2025.
“Every team’s different,” Godwin said. “Yeah, we do have some guys that went through it for sure last year. We need to show up and just continue to play like we played this weekend.”
Beach time: one hour
The Pirates didn’t go to the beach last year but will have that opportunity this year with a more favorable schedule for the higher seeds.
Godwin laid out the plan.
“We’re going to get up, we’re going to eat breakfast, let them sleep in a little bit,” he said of the schedule for Wednesday. “We’re going to practice at noon on one of the spring training fields. The position players are going to lift weights after that.
“We’ll feed them a good meal and they will get an hour on the beach (Wednesday) afternoon. We’ll have curfew and then we’ll have our hour and 15 minute-practice on Thursday. Have early dinner Thursday night, watch a little movie and get ready for Friday morning.”
ECU will play FAU (again), WSU or Rice on Fri. Rice will have played the day prior, and the other two on both days prior, so ECU (and UTSA) getting two byes is a pretty significant advantage.