ECU’s run of six straight NCAA Regional appearances is in jeopardy of being broken
NC State @ East Carolina – April 8, 2025 @ 6:00pm – ESPN+ broadcast – Live Stats
If you ask anyone in college baseball circles what is the best program that has never made it to the College World Series, it’d be a surprise to hear any response other than East Carolina. Unfortunately for a Pirates program that has been agonizingly close to breaking down that door in recent years, this isn’t shaping up to be the season it’s going to finally happen.
Sporting a dreadful 1-6 record in Quad 1 games (against Coastal Carolina, North Carolina, and Duke – the lone win coming against the Chanticleers), the Pirates looked to be getting right in conference play. After sweeping Memphis and Rice in back-to-back series, ECU (20-13 overall, 6-3 AAC) fell off the wagon by getting swept in Greenville by FAU this past weekend. The losses to the Owls featured blowing an early lead in the opener, blowing a late lead in the finale, and getting their doors blown off in the middle match.
This is a group that has played a bunch of close games – 16 games that were either decided by two or fewer runs or went to extra innings (8-8 record in those games) against a schedule that’s ranked 103rd in the country in strength of schedule (SOS). By comparison, NC State has played six such games (3-3 record) against the 67th toughest scheduled by SOS.
The struggles are a bit of unfamiliar territory for ECU as they’ve posted top 30 RPI rankings in six of eight years under Cliff Godwin – with one of those two outliers being an RPI of 36 back in his first year. ECU, however, currently sports an RPI of 91. This team is definitely better than Godwin’s worst squad – the 2017 team that is his only one to fail to make an NCAA Regional – but this team is in desperate peril of becoming his second squad to sit out the postseason.
The lineup was expected to take a step backwards after losing 2024 AAC Player-of-the-Year Carter Cunningham, as well as productive mainstays Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, Jacob Starling, Justin Wilcoxen, and Ryan McCrystal to either graduation or the MLB Draft. Then there was the transfer of the top recruit in last year’s freshman class, SO OF Bristol Carter (current starting CF for #11 Auburn). Then on top of that was a hip flexor injury to one of three returning starters, 2024 1st Team All-AAC selection SR CF Ryley Johnson. Unfortunately, after returning and playing in three games recently, Johnson missed this past weekend’s series with FAU. It’s unclear when or if he’s expected to return.
Collectively, the Pirates lineup is doing okay, but still clearly not clicking. It’s been a youth movement with as many as six freshmen (five true, one redshirt) in the lineup at a time. The healthy return of Johnson would do wonders for getting this group to a higher level than their current line of .272/.387/.433, 48 2B, 40 HR, 12.1 BB%, 19.7 K%, 42-50 SB.
The surprise star has been walk-on FR OF Braden Burress (.402/.518/.533, 6 2B, 2 HR, 13.7 BB%, 6.8 K%, 12-15 SB), while JR 2B Dixon Williams (.286/.481/.527, 4 2B, 7 HR, 21.0 BB%, 17.2 K%, 15-16 SB) and SO 3B/1B Colby Wallace (.282/.371/.524, 9 2B, 7 HR, 9.0 BB%, 18.8 K%, 1-2 SB) have been the producers they were expected to be. It’s getting a few more bats to be consistently productive that’s the challenge.
To a lesser extent than the lineup, the pitching staff was expected to have a minor makeover after losing 1st Team All-American and 2024 1st round pick Trey Yesavage, as well as top relievers Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman and Danny Beal. Like the lineup, the big blow came in the form of a transfer, losing JR LHP Zach Root (current Friday starter for #1 Arkansas). Root was expected to team with SO LHP Ethan Norby (4-2, 3.21 ERA, 47.2 IP, 6.3 BB%, 35.1 K%) to create the AAC’s best 1-2 starting punch.
Norby has clearly held up his end of the equation, but the hole created by Root’s departure forced the Pirates to lean more heavily on FR RHP Sean Jenkins (3-2, 5.77 ERA, 34.1 IP, 7.9 BB%, 16.6 K%), who graduated high school a year early to join the program. Despite having still not reached his 18th birthday, Jenkins was ranked as the #5 freshman in 2025 by D1 Baseball coming into the season. The talent is there, but a couple bad starts in mid-March forced Jenkins to the bullpen where he’s found a bit more success. A start against the Wolfpack on Tuesday is a possibility for him.
Again, like the lineup, injuries have taken their toll on the pitching staff. The Pirates have been without the services of a pair of expected high-usage transfers, SO RHP Brett Antolick (Texas A&M) and JR LHP Ryan Towers (Loyola Marymount), for the entirety of the season to date. Towers looked poised to open the campaign in the weekend rotation, and both were originally expected back around late March to early April timeframe. We’ll see when/if they return.
As a whole, the ECU pitching staff has a 4.36 ERA over 287.0 IP with a 11.5 BB% and 24.5 K%. There’s a slew of solid relievers, including JR RHP Ethan Young (3-0, 2 SV, 3.46 ERA, 39.0 IP, 10.0 BB%, 31.2 K%), Oklahoma transfer SO RHP Brad Pruett (2-2, 2 SV, 2.95 ERA, 36.2 IP, 10.6 BB%, 32.5 K%), and SR RHP Jake Hunter (2-2, 1 SV, 3.26 ERA, 30.1 IP, 11.5 BB%, 25.2 K%), but finding quality starters for the weekend rotation behind Norby has been the challenge.
For ECU to reach their 7th straight NCAA Regional, they’ll need to find at least one consistent starter behind Norby, and the lineup will need to find a few more contributors to help make up for the -1.5 run/game differential from last year’s team to this year’s. There aren’t enough high-RPI contests among the 23 games left on the schedule, so unless ECU runs the table, their path for the postseason likely lies entirely on winning the AAC Tournament in May. The Pirates will need to start building towards that now.