2015 East Carolina Pirates baseball team

2015 East Carolina Pirates baseball
Conference	American Athletic Conference
2015 record	40–22 (15–9 The American)
Head coach	Cliff Godwin (1st year)
Assistant coach	Jeff Palumbo (1st year)
Pitching coach	Dan Roszel (5th year)
Home stadium	Clark–LeClair Stadium

2015 American Athletic Conference baseball standings
	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
Houston †^y	16	–	8	–	0		.667			43	–	20	–	0		.683
East Carolina‡^y	15	–	9	–	0		.625			40	–	22	–	0		.645
Tulane ^y	13	–	11	–	0		.542			35	–	25	–	0		.583
South Florida^y	13	–	11	–	0		.542			34	–	26	–	1		.566
Memphis	12	–	12	–	0		.500			37	–	21	–	0		.638
Connecticut	11	–	13	–	0		.458			35	–	25	–	0		.583
UCF	10	–	14	–	0		.417			31	–	27	–	0		.534
Cincinnati	6	–	18	–	0		.250			15	–	41	–	0		.268
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 30, 2015[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

The 2015 East Carolina Pirates baseball team represents East Carolina University during the 2015 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Pirates play their home games at Clark–LeClair Stadium as a member of the American Athletic Conference. They are led by head coach Cliff Godwin, in his first season at East Carolina.

Previous Season

In 2014, the Pirates finished the season 7th in Conference USA with a record of 33–26, 16–14 in conference play. They qualified for the 2014 Conference USA Baseball Tournament, losing in the second round, but failed to qualify for the 2014 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Personnel

Roster

2015 East Carolina Pirates roster[2]
	Pitchers 12 - David Kirkpatrick - Sophomore 17 - Brandon Taylor - Senior 18 - T.J. McDonald - Freshman 21 - David Lucroy - Junior 27 - Ross Gardner - Freshman 31 - Nick Durazo - Junior 32 - Reid Love - Senior 33 - Jacob Wolfe - Sophomore 34 - Mason Keen - Freshman 35 - Evan Kruczynski - Sophomore 36 - Joe Ingle - Freshman 37 - Luke Bolka - Sophomore 42 - Brandon Saunders - Sophomore 43 - Jimmy Boyd - Junior 44 - Evan Voliva - Freshman		Catchers 10 - Ryan Clinch - Freshman 19 - Travis Watkins - Sophomore 24 - Luke Lowery - Junior 25 - Eric Tyler - Sophomore Infielders 3 - Charlie Yorgen - Sophomore 4 - Hunter Allen - Senior 5 - Jack Owens - Freshman 8 - Cameron Snow - Freshman 9 - Kirk Morgan - Sophomore 11 - Tyler Strawn - Junior 20 - Jackson Mims - Freshman 26 - Bryce Harman - Sophomore		Outfielders 2 - Garrett Brooks - Junior 7 - Bailey Sugg - Freshman 14 - Jeff Nelson - Junior

Coaching Staff

Name	Position	Seasons at East Carolina	Alma Mater
Cliff Godwin	Head Coach	1	East Carolina University (2000)
Jeff Palumbo	Assistant Coach	1	George Mason University (2004)
Dan Roszel	Pitching Coach	5	University of North Florida (2000)

Season

February

The Pirates opened their season on February 13 against Virginia, as part of a home-and-home series. The Pirates traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia in 2014, and were swept in a three-game series. Once again, the Cavaliers swept the Pirates, this time over the first weekend of the 2015 season. The Pirates struggled offensively, and scored just five runs over the entire series. Josh Sborz collected two saves for Virginia.^[3] The following Wednesday, the Pirates were scheduled to visit Old Dominion, but bad weather caused a postponement until April.^[4] The following week, the Pirates' home game against the Monarchs on the 25th was also pushed until March 4.^[5]

On the second weekend of the season, weather related issues caused a shakeup to the schedule of the annual Keith LeClair Classic hosted by ECU. All Friday games were cancelled, and Michigan, who was originally scheduled to participate (along with Liberty and St. John's), was replaced by UNC Greensboro. East Carolina went 1–2 on the weekend, defeating St. John's and UNC Greensboro, but falling to Liberty, to win the classic for the third consecutive year.^[6]

The Pirates closed the month of February (and opened the month of March in the finale) with a three-game series against Albany. Originally, ECU was scheduled to play in the annual Irish Classic in Cary, North Carolina, but it was cancelled due to weather. The Pirates swept the Great Danes over the three game series, outscoring them by a cumulative score of 24–7.^[7]

March

In the Pirates' first midweek game of March, they traveled to rival NC State and lost by a score of 0–7, extending their losing streak against the Wolfpack in Raleigh to five games.^[8] The following day, the Pirates returned home and hosted Old Dominion in the makeup game of a February 25 postponement. In their 9–7 win, East Carolina broke a 5–5 deadlock with two runs in both the seventh and eight innings, and despite allowing a run in both the eight and ninth innings, held on for their sixth victory of the season.^[9]

Doak Field, home field of NC State

In their first weekend series in March, the Pirates hosted Monmouth. After the game scheduled for Friday, March 6 was pushed back to Saturday, March 7, as part of a doubleheader, ECU swept the doubleheader against the Hawks, shutting out Monmouth in both games. In the first game of the doubleheader, a 2–0 victory, Evan Kruczynski threw a complete game, two hit shutout. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Pirates scored six runs in the first inning to coast to a 9–0 win. ECU completed the sweep with a 3–2 win on Sunday.^[10]

In the second week of March, the Pirates opened with a pair of midweek games. They lost the first game to Campbell 4–9, before rebounding to defeat UNC Greensboro, 8–1. It was the Pirates' second win over UNC Greensboro on the season, after having defeated them on February 21.^[11] Over the weekend of March 13, the Pirates traveled to Elon, North Carolina, to play a three-game series with Elon. For the second straight weekend, the Pirates picked up a three-game sweep, after sweeping Monmouth the previous weekend. East Carolina scored 41 runs in the series.^[12]

The Pirates hosted Princeton, out of the Ivy League, for a two-game midweek series from March 17–18. The Pirates swept the Tigers over the two game series to improve their record on the season to 15–6 and extended their winning streak to six games.^[13] Following the midweek series against the Tigers, ECU hosted VCU, a traditional midweek opponent, for a three-game weekend series. The Pirates dropped both the first and last games of the series, dropping their first weekend series since opening weekend against Virginia.^[14]

Schedule

Legend
	East Carolina win
	East Carolina loss
	Postponement
Bold	East Carolina team member

2015 East Carolina Pirates Baseball Game Log
Regular Season
February Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record AAC Record February 13 #3 Virginia Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 1–3 Kirby (1–0) Kruczynski (0–1) Sborz (1) 2,541 0–1 – February 14 #3 Virginia Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–9 Jones (1–0) Wolfe (0–1) 3,058 0–2 – February 14 #3 Virginia Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–4 Roberts (1–0) Boyd (0–1) Sborz (2) 3,058 0–3 – February 18 at Old Dominion Bud Metheny Baseball Complex • Norfolk, VA Postponed Rescheduled for April 15 February 21 UNC Greensboro Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 8–3 Kruczynski (1–1) Clark (1–1) 2,207 1–3 – February 22 Liberty Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 3–4 Clowers (2–0) Love (0–1) 2,207 1–4 – February 22 St. John's Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 9–2 Lucroy (1–0) Magee (0–2) 2,142 2–4 – February 25 Old Dominion Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC Postponed Rescheduled for March 4 February 27 Albany Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 5–1 Kruczynski (2–1) Ryan (1–1) Love (1) 482 3–4 – February 28 Albany Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 14–3 Boyd (1–1) Sorgie (0–2) 587 4–4 –
March Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record AAC Record March 1 Albany Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 5–3 Morgan (1–0) Woods (0–2) Love (2) 422 5–4 – March 3 at NC State Doak Field • Raleigh, NC L 0–7 Britt (1–0) Boyd (1–2) 456 5–5 – March 4 Old Dominion Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 9–7 Morgan (2–0) Bainbridge (0–1) Ingle (1) 2,155 6–5 – March 7 Monmouth Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 2–0 Kruczynski (3–1) McKenna (0–2) 2,263 7–5 – March 7 Monmouth Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 9–0 Wolfe (1–1) Trimarco (0–2) 2,263 8–5 – March 8 Monmouth Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 3–2 Love (1–1) Ciavarella (0–3) 2,226 9–5 – March 10 Campbell Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 4–9 Thompkins (3–0) Boyd (1–3) 2,150 9–6 – March 11 UNC Greensboro Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 8–1 Morgan (3–0) Betts (0–1) 1,928 10–6 – March 13 at Elon Walter C. Latham Park • Elon, NC W 10–3 Kruczynski (4–1) Harris (2–1) 161 11–6 – March 14 at Elon Walter C. Latham Park • Elon, NC W 11–8 Love (2–1) McGillicuddy (0–1) 318 12–6 – March 15 at Elon Walter C. Latham Park • Elon, NC W 20–4 Lucroy (2–0) Stalzer (1–3) 615 13–6 – March 17 Princeton Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 11–2 Boyd (2–3) Donatiello (0–1) 2,239 14–6 – March 18 Princeton Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 8–3 Durazo (1–0) Bodurian (0–1) Love (3) 2,015 15–6 – March 20 VCU Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 3–4 Lees (3–0) Boyd (2–4) Concepcion (3) 2,069 15–7 – March 21 VCU Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 9–3 Morgan (4–0) Gill (0–2) 2,862 16–7 – March 22 VCU Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–3 Lees (4–0) Boyd (2–5) Concepcion (4) 2,295 16–8 – March 24 at UNC Wilmington Brooks Field • Wilmington, NC L 2–4 Barnes (4–0) Love (2–2) Gesell (2) 1,635 16–9 – March 25 High Point Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–13 Hennessey (1–2) Boyd (2–6) 2,290 16–10 – March 28 Memphis Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 4–1 Kruczynski (5–1) Wallingford (3–2) 2,315 17–10 1–0 March 28 Memphis Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–3 Myers (1–0) Boyd (2–7) Blackwood (8) 2,315 17–11 1–1 March 29 Memphis Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2–4 Myers (2–0) Lucroy (2–1) Blackwood (9) 2,051 17–12 1–2
April Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record AAC Record April 2 Tulane Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 3–0 Love (3–2) Merrill (1–3) 2,213 18–12 2–2 April 3 Tulane Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 11–4 Boyd (3–7) Rankin (3–1) 2,411 19–12 3–2 April 4 Tulane Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 6–8 Massey (2–2) Lucroy (2–2) Duester (2) 2,261 19–13 3–3 April 7 at Campbell Jim Perry Stadium • Buies Creek, NC W 7–5 Wolfe (2–1) Long (3–1) Love (4) 828 20–13 – April 10 at South Florida USF Baseball Stadium • Tampa, FL L 1-2 Herget (6-1) Love (3-3) Peterson (11) 862 20-14 3-4 April 11 at South Florida USF Baseball Stadium • Tampa, FL L 0-10 Mulholland (4-4) Kruczynski (5-2) 868 20-15 3-5 April 12 at South Florida USF Baseball Stadium • Tampa, FL W 6-0 Durazo (2-0) Cavallardo (3-1) Boyd (1) 517 21-15 4-5 April 15 at Old Dominion Bud Metheny Baseball Complex • Norfolk, VA W 4-2 Boyd (4-7) Mathesson (2-6) Durazo (1) 445 22-15 - April 17 at Connecticut J. O. Christian Field • Storrs, CT W 7-3 Kruczynski (6-2) Cross (7-2) Durazo (2) 71 23-15 5-5 April 18 at Connecticut J. O. Christian Field • Storrs, CT L 3-7 Kay (6-3) Lucroy (2-3) Ruotolo (5) 305 23-16 5-6 April 19 at Connecticut J. O. Christian Field • Storrs, CT W 4-3 (10) Voliva (1-0) Darras (2-2) Wolfe (1) 287 24-16 6-6 April 21 NC State Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 6-5 Voliva(2-0) O'Donnell (5-3) 3821 25-16 - April 22 Duke Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 3-2 Boyd (5-7) Koplove (1-2) 3271 26-16 - April 24 UCF Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 6-5 Durazo (3-0) Hukari (4-3) 2446 27-16 7-6 April 25 UCF Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 3-2 Love (4-3) Finfrock (6-4) Ingle (1) 2441 28-16 8-6 April 26 UCF Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 6-5 Wolfe (3-1) Howell (4-6) Voliva (1) 2069 29-16 9-6 April 29 Liberty Liberty Baseball Stadium • Lynchburg, VA L 0-5 Pennington (1-1) Lucroy (2-4) 791 29-17 -
May Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record AAC Record May 1 Connecticut Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC L 2-13 Cross (9-2) Kruczynski (6-3) 2272 29-18 9-7 May 2 Connecticut Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 5-4 Love (5-3) Kay (6-5) 3034 30-18 10-7 May 3 Connecticut Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 5-2 Wolfe (4-1) Tabakman (2-4) Ingle (3) 3012 31-18 11-7 May 8 at #28 Houston Cougar Field • Houston, TX L 1-10 Lantrip (7-3) Kruczynski (6-4) 1691 31-19 11-8 May 9 at #28 Houston Cougar Field • Houston, TX W 4-1 Love (6-3) Dowdy (7-2) Ingle (4) 2013 32-19 12-8 May 10 at #28 Houston Cougar Field • Houston, TX L 1-11 Romero (7-3) Wolfe (4-2) 1408 32-20 12-9 May 12 Elon Clark–LeClair Stadium • Greenville, NC W 7-1 Lucroy (3-4) Jones (0-1) 2585 33-20 - May 14 at Cincinnati Marge Schott Stadium • Cincinnati, OH W 7-3 Love (7-3) Atkinson (4-6) 602 34-20 13-9 May 15 at Cincinnati Marge Schott Stadium • Cincinnati, OH W 6-4 Kruczynski (7-4) Zeller (2-4) Ingle (5) 677 35-20 14-9 May 16 at Cincinnati Marge Schott Stadium • Cincinnati, OH W 8-7 Durazo (4-0) Patishall (0-3) Ingle (6) 1036 36-20 15-9
Post-Season
AAC Tournament Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record AACT Record May 20 UCF Bright House Field • Clearwater, FL W 4-3 Ingle (1-0) Rodgers (10-1) 37-20 1-0 May 21 Tulane Bright House Field • Clearwater, FL W 3-1 Kruczynski (8-4) Merrill (4-6) Ingle (7) 1243 38-20 2-0 May 23 UCONN Bright House Field • Clearwater, FL W 4-2 Wofle (5-2) Montgomerie (3-2) Ingle (8) 1136 39-20 3-0 May 24 #23 Houston Bright House Field • Clearwater, FL (Championship) W 9-1 Durazo (5-0) Romero (7-4) 1037 40-20 4-0
NCAA Tournament – Coral Gables (Fla.) Regional Date Opponent Rank Site/Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record NCAAT Record May 29 (2) Columbia Mark Light Field • Coral Gables, FL L 3–6 Thanopoulos (6–5) Durazo (5–1) Cline (2) 1845 40–21 0–1 May 30 (4) FIU Mark Light Field • Coral Gables, FL L 0–2 Dopico (3–4) Love (7–4) 1929 40–22 0–2

All rankings from Collegiate Baseball.

References

1. "2015 Baseball Standings". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
2. "Official Baseball Roster". East Carolina Pirates. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
3. "ECU baseball swept by Virginia". witn.com. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
4. "ECU-ODU Baseball Game Postponed Until April 15th". ecupirates.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
5. "ECU-ODU Baseball Game Postponed Due To Weather". ecupirates.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
6. "Pirates take LeClair Classic with 9-2 win over St. John's". witn.com. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
7. "ECU completes sweep versus Albany". witn.com. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
8. "Pirates’ Doak Field disconnect". reflector.com. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
9. "Baseball ECU makes most of ODU's miscues to win". hamptonroads.com. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
10. "ECU baseball sweeps Monmouth". witn.com. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
11. "ECU Pirates dominate UNCG in baseball". wwaytv3.com. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
12. "East Carolina thumps Elon to complete baseball series sweep". thetimesnews.com. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
13. "College Notebook: East Carolina tops Princeton 8-3 for sixth straight baseball win". The News & Observer. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
14. "Rams end ECU win streak". The Daily Reflector. Retrieved March 23, 2015.