The 2016 college baseball season certainly hasn’t lacked excitement for the No. 19-ranked and defending American Athletic Conference champion ECU Pirates.
Whether it be a walk off wild pitch, grinding out an extra inning win over the defending national champs or mashing teams by multiple runs, the Pirates have shown that they remain a force to be reckoned with not just in the AAC, but nationally, as well.
The Pirates, currently 15-7 as they head into their AAC schedule, have navigated their way through a very difficult out of conference schedule. Their non-conference slate included the likes of defending national champion Virginia, as well as perennial powers Rice and North Carolina. The Pirates have also defeated in-state foe Duke and will meet nationally ranked NC State in mid April.
No. 19 @ECUBaseball picked up the road win over Duke last night, 8-6 pic.twitter.com/LqtjXuSJvJ
— American Baseball (@American_BSB) March 23, 2016
Every one of those games offered the Pirates an opportunity to test their mettle against the best the nation has to offer. While UNC got the better of the Pirates in their meeting with a 17-4 win, ECU managed to take two of three from UVA back in February, including an 8-5 10 inning win in the series opener.
AAC play begins on April 1 for ECU, as they welcome Houston to Greenville for a three game set.
Offense
All season long, Pirates have been buoyed by their offense. The Pirates lead the conference in team batting average (.307), on-base percentage (.388) and hits (213), while also tying for the conference lead in total wins with 14.
ECU boasts four of the top 10 hitters in the conference in junior Luke Bolka (.429 AVG, .607 SLG% in just eight games), senior outfielder Parker Lamm (.379 AVG, .379 SLG%), junior infielder Kirk Morgan (.372 AVG, 372 SLG%) and freshman outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton (.346 AVG, .519 SLG%). Those four have been the main catalysts of the offense, but the Pirates have also gotten a great deal of support from Travis Watkins (.329 AVG, .486 SLG%), junior Charlie Yorgen (.320 AVG, .387 SLG%), Jeff Nelson (.302 AVG, .387 SLG%) and freshman infielder Turner Brown (.308 AVG, .385 SLG%).
Pitching
The ECU pitching staff has also been solid, ranking second in the conference in ERA (3.49), runs allowed (84), earned runs allowed (73) and walks allowed (54.) The Opposing teams are batting just .250 against the Pirate pitching staff, which is fourth best in the AAC.
The trio of starters has been a big part of the Pirates’ success. Junior Jacob Wolfe is third in the AAC with a 2-1 record with a microscopic 0.88 ERA. Opponents are batting just .233 against him. Next is junior Evan Kruczynski, who is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA and has a team high 22 strikeouts. Senior Jimmy Boyd is the third piece of the puzzle, sitting at 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA.
Sophomore closer Joe Ingle is also having a solid season, currently ranked third in the conference with three saves.
The Road Ahead
ECU is about to plunge headfirst into its AAC schedule, opening with Houston (13-7) and Tulane (14-7). The Cougars have one of the conference’s best pitching staffs, leading the AAC in team ERA (2.49) and opponent batting average (.208). For their part, the Green Wave are second only to the Pirates in team batting average (.285) and are tied for the AAC lead in runs scored with 141.
Once ECU gets through those three game sets, it still has to deal with rising teams like USF, UCF and UConn.
If there’s one saving grace for the Pirates, it’s that they have already been battle-tested. They’ll have to lean on that experience, because the AAC slate will not be easy.
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