East Carolina Kicks Off 2025 Campaign With Home Series Versus George Mason
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina puts its 2025 motto of 'W.I.N. Today' to the test in earnest this weekend when it christens the new season with a three-game home set against Atlantic 10 Conference outfit George Mason inside Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium. Due to the threat of inclement weather in the Greenville area, the Pirates and Patriots begin the series Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. before wrapping up the weekend Saturday at 2 p.m. All three contests will stream live through ESPN+ with Patrick Johnson and Mike Mullis handling broadcast duties. Dylan Johnson and Dr. Gary Overton will have the radio call locally on 94.3 The Game. The Pirates are under the direction of 11th-year head coach Cliff Godwin who enters 2025 with a 397-186-1 career record. The five-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year has guided ECU to eight NCAA Regional berths, four Super Regional appearances, five AAC regular season titles and three AAC Tournament championships. Projected Opening Weekend Pitching MatchupsGame 1: LHP Ethan Norby vs. RHP Sam LavinGame 2: RHP Bradley Zayac vs. RHP Connor O'Hara OR RHP Logan RumbergGame 3: RHP Sean Jenkins vs. TBA East Carolina returns 16 players, including a trio of all-conference selections and two lineup regulars, from a 2024 squad that captured the program's fifth-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Greenville Regional finals with wins over Wake Forest, VCU and Evansville. The Pirates put together a 46-17 overall record and 19-8 league mark before hosting a regional for the fifth time in the last six full seasons. Though ECU welcomes 27 new faces into the fold, there is still a boatload of talent on the roster. Reigning AAC Defensive Player of the Year and the first ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner in program history, senior Ryley Johnson, returns to man center field. He did not commit an error in 142 defensive chances last season as he started 60 games in center field and was one of three Pirates to play in all 63 contests. He also owns a 1.000 career fielding percentage with no miscues in 271 opportunities. At the plate, Johnson hit .339 with 75 runs scored, nine doubles, five triples, four home runs and 33 RBI. He also stole a team-best 23 bases in 26 attempts while drawing a squad-best 43 walks. Johnson began the season by reaching base safely in 44-straight games – the third-longest streak by an ECU player since 1998. Sophomore LHP Ethan Norby will play a variety of roles for the pitching staff this season and was just recently tabbed to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award Watch List. Selected a Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game in 2024, slotted into ECU's weekend rotation for the latter half of the season on the way to earning AAC All-Freshman Team accolades. He compiled a 4-0 record, 3.79 earned run average and two saves with 63 strikeouts against 25 walks in 59.1 innings of work. He started 10 games over 20 appearances and held opposing hitters to a .243 batting average. Norby collected his first collegiate victory in the UAB series finale March 30th, tossing four scoreless innings with six strikeouts. He nabbed additional victories over Old Dominion, NC State and Evansville. Norby also became the first Pirate pitcher to collect 10 or more strikeouts in a relief appearance since Jake Agnos in 2017 when he fanned 10 ODU batters in 4.2 frames in a 7-5 East Carolina victory April 10th. Both Johnson and Norby were named to the NCBWA Preseason All-America Third Team as well as the Preseason All-AAC Team. The Pirates have boasted a NCBWA Preseason All-American every year since 2019. In a testament to its wildly consistent performance over the last several campaigns, ECU topped the 2025 American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Pirates have been tabbed first in the preseason poll seven-straight times and eight overall since joining the conference prior to the 2015 campaign. ECU collected 80 points and eight out of 10 first place votes while Wichita State and Tulane were second and third with 72 and 63 points respectively. The Shockers were awarded the other two first-place votes. East Carolina continued to garner a great deal of support at Clark-LeClair Stadium in 2024, ranking 12th in the nation in average attendance (4,865) and 13th in total attendance (170-277) – both single season program records. A facility single-game record 6,054 fans filed in to watch East Carolina defeat then No. 21 NC State 10-6 – a victory highlighted by Jacob Starling hitting for the cycle for the sixth time in school history. ECU racked up a stout 29-6 record inside the friendly confines a season ago. About George MasonThe Patriots posted a 21-32 overall record and 7-17 Atlantic 10 Conference mark a season ago, finishing 12th in the final league standings. George Mason was selected ninth in this year's preseason coaches poll. The Patriots hit a respectable .283 as a team last campaign but struggled on the mound with a 7.14 team earned run average. The offense produced 100 doubles, 11 triples and 50 home runs while the pitching staff struck out 418 against 248 walks over 460.1 innings of work. James Quinn-Irons is George Mason's top returning hitter statistically as he posted a .302 batting average, 11 doubles, 13 home runs and 43 RBI as well as a .974 OPS. The Patriots will feature a bevy of new arms in 2025 as George Mason is tasked with replacing its entire starting rotation as well as top reliever Chad Gartland who notched 42 strikeouts and a pair of saves in 48.2 frames. The George Mason SeriesEast Carolina leads the series with George Mason 47-30. The teams last met in 2023 when ECU swept a three game non-conference series at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates have won nine straight over the Patriots dating back to the 2000 campaign. In Season-Opening SeriesEast Carolina has won seven of 10 season-opening series since 2015. Oddly, each three-game set has ended in a sweep. The Pirates have recorded clean sweeps over Longwood (2016), Western Carolina (2018), Radford (2019), William & Mary (2020), Rhode Island (2021), George Washington (2023) and Rider (2024) while falling to Virginia (2015), Ole Miss (2017) and Bryant (2022). 40 SomethingsEast Carolina won 46 games in 2024, marking its sixth-straight campaign of eclipsing the 40-victory plateau. The Pirates own the second longest active streak nationally, trailing only Southern Miss (eight). Winning With RegularityECU has claimed the last five AAC regular season titles. Wright State (Horizon League) is the only program in the country with a longer streak while Connecticut (Big East) and Fairfield (Metro) sit on four-straight conference regular season championships. Distinguished DoubleBy winning both the regular season and conference tournament in 2022, ECU became the first team in league history to win both the outright/solo regular season title and conference tournament crown. Houston pulled off the double in 2017, but the Cougars had to share the regular season championship with UCF and were the No. 2 seed in the league tourney. Listed Among The Nation's EliteD1Baseball recently updated its Top 100 baseball programs in 2024, identifying clubs in the best shape right now with an eye toward the next five to 10 years. ECU was tabbed No. 22 and is the highest ranked side in the AAC as well as one of six North Carolina institutions in the top 50 (North Carolina/12, NC State/14, Duke/28, Wake Forest/24 and UNCW/49). South Florida represents the next highest American Conference team at No. 62 while Charlotte is 73rd and Tulane slots 75th. RPI ExaminationECU owns the third-best average RPI in the nation over the last five years, finishing seventh in 2019, 13th in 2021, eighth in 2022, 26th in 2023 and 22nd in 2024. The Pirates' average mark of 14.8 ranks behind just Florida (10.6) and Oklahoma State (14.4). Looking AheadFollowing its series with George Mason, East Carolina makes its traditional early-season trek to Buies Creek Tuesday (Feb. 18) for a midweek showdown with Campbell. First pitch at Jim Perry Stadium is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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