FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Thirty-five home games at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium, including the 10th-Annual Keith LeClair Classic, highlight the 2013 East Carolina baseball schedule announced Tuesday afternoon by head baseball coach Billy Godwin.
The 2013 slate features 20 games against teams that earned a bid to the 2012 NCAA Regionals, 26 against teams with 35-plus wins and 14 that finished ranked in the national polls.
ECU will play 17 of its first 18 games at Clark-LeClair Stadium as well as 10 of its final 13 contests. The Pirates will open play on Friday, Feb. 15 at home against Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia in a three-game series before hosting Campbell on Feb. 19.
The 17-game home stand continues with the annual Keith LeClair Classic, which pits ECU against Illinois (Feb. 21), 2012 NCAA Regional participant New Mexico State (Feb. 22) and Boston College (Feb. 23). Also scheduled to make trips to Greenville during this stretch are VCU (Feb. 26), Liberty (Feb. 27), 2012 Super Regional participant St. Johns (Mar. 1-3) and UNC Greensboro (Mar. 5).
ECU’s first road test will be at future Conference USA foe Old Dominion (Mar. 6) before returning home for a three-game stint with Monmouth (Mar. 8-9) and another matchup with the Monarchs on Mar. 12. The Pirates will close out the month of March with 10 of its 13 games on the road including a midweek trip to Campbell (Mar. 13) before heading to Jacksonville, Fla. for a three-game series against the Dolphins during the Pirates’ Spring Break (Mar. 15-17).
Conference USA play opens on March 22 when the Pirates travel to Houston for three games (Mar. 22-24). Other C-USA road contests on the docket are Tulane (Apr. 12-14), UAB (Apr. 19-21) and Marshall (May 10-12). League home games include 2012 C-USA regular season champs Rice (Apr. 5-7), Memphis (Apr. 26-28), Southern Miss (May 3-5) and UCF (May 16-18).
Along with NCAA Regional participants N.C. State (Apr. 2 and 9) and UNC Wilmington (Mar. 19 and Apr. 16), ECU will have home-and-home series against N.C. Central (Mar. 29-30) and Elon (Mar. 27 and Apr. 23), while High Point (Mar. 20) and William & Mary (Mar. 26) are scheduled to make trips to Greenville.
“We are very excited about the 2013 schedule,” said Godwin, who is in his eighth season at ECU. “Once again we have been able to put together a challenging schedule that features eight teams that made the post-season from a year ago, including two that were Super Regional clubs. Our players look forward to playing on a national stage and this schedule gives them the opportunity to compete with some of the top teams in the country.”
The annual C-USA Tournament is set for May 22-26 at a site to be determined.
Coming off its 12th NCAA Regional appearance in the last 14 seasons, ECU welcomes back 21 letterwinners including 2012 Second-Team All-Conference USA performer Drew Reynolds and all-freshman selection Jeff Hoffman. Joining Reynolds and Hoffman are All C-USA performers Ben Fultz (freshman team/ ’11), Chase McDonald (freshman team/ ’11) and Jack Reinheimer (freshman team/ ’11) as well as Tyler Joyner, who was selected in the 35th round of the 2012 Major League First Year Player Draft by the Kansas City Royals. The duo of Fultz and McDonald were also named to the 2011 All-Charlottesville Regional Team.
Also stepping onto the diamond are 13 new faces, which consists of junior college transfers Dylan Brown (Gulf Coast Community), Zach Houchins (Louisburg) and Ryan Williams (West Valley College), as well as 10 true freshmen: Garrett Brooks, Joe Brooks, Nick Durazo, Andrew LaMura, Luke Lowery, Kyle Majette, Andrew Schorr, Justin Taylor, Travis Watkins and Hayden White.
Season tickets will be made available to Pirate fans starting the week of December 10th. For additional season ticket information, log on to ECUPirates.com or contact the ECU Athletic Ticket Office at (252) 737-4500.
2013 East Carolina Schedule (PDF)
