ECU's Kruczynski and Lamm to be Honored at Wilson Hot Stove

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina senior pitcher Evan Kruczynski and graduate assistant coach Parker Lamm will headline the 42nd Annual Wilson Hot Stove banquet on Tuesday, Jan. 17 as both are set to receive major awards in the Recreation Park Community Center gymnasium in Wilson, N.C.

Third-year ECU head coach Cliff Godwin will be on hand to recap the Pirates’ 2016 Super Regional season, while sophomore outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton and freshman infielder Spencer Brickhouse will be in attendance. Other former Pirates scheduled to attend are Tim Talton (1958) and Floyd Wicker (1960-61), both of whom had Major League Baseball careers.

Kruczynski, who earned Third-Team All-America honors from D1Baseball.com last season, will receive the Gaylord Perry Amateur Pitching Award as the top nonprofessional hurler in the state in 2016. Last year, the southpaw posted an 8-1 record with a 2.01 ERA and struck out 95 batters on his way to winning ECU's pitching triple crown. In 17 starts, he allowed 32 runs (26 earned) on 107 hits while allowing 27 walks earning First-Team All-American Conference accolades. In two NCAA postseason starts, he sported a 2-0 record with a 2.13 ERA, allowing three runs (all earned) on six hits with 12 strikeouts in 12.2 innings.

One of five Charlottesville All-Regional selections, Kruczynski became the first Pirate pitcher to register a win in Super Regional action, helping ECU to an 8-6 victory over Texas Tech. He stood among the conference leaders in innings pitched (second), wins (third) and strikeouts (t5th). Prior to the start of the 2017 season, he has been named one of three ECU captains, a Third-Team All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball and the American Athletic Conference Co-Pitcher-of-the-Year. Kruczynski is the fourth Pirate to win the Gaylord Perry Amateur Pitching Award following Winfred Johnson (1985), Jonathan Jenkins (1990) and Jeff Hoffman (2015).

Lamm, a Hunt High product, is the recipient of the Trot Nixon “Gamer” Award, given annually to the player whose grit, hustle and excellence on the field exemplifies the honor’s namesake, the Wilmington native and former major leaguer. Lamm, the 2012 Wilson Times Athlete-of-the-Year, began at Pitt Community College and ended as a starting outfielder for an ECU team that became the first in school history to win a NCAA Super Regional game.

A co-captain in 2016, Lamm closed out his senior season starting 57 games where he batted .287 (68-for-237) with 28 RBI and 28 runs scored while collecting 18 multi-hit and five multi-RBI games. He ranked among the team leaders (top-4) in six statistical categories including stolen bases (12/first), hits (third) and RBI (fourth). In the field, he tallied 94 putouts, two assists and didn’t commit an error in 96 chances. During his career, Lamm started 84 of 102 games for the Pirates batting .272 with 92 hits, 38 RBI, 45 runs and produced 22 multi-hit games. Lamm is the third Pirate to win the Trot Nixon “Gamer” Award following Trent Whitehead (2010) and Seth Maness (2011).

During his two years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to a pair of NCAA Regional berths, a Super Regional appearance, an American Athletic Conference Tournament title and a 78-44-1 (.638) overall record. Three players have earned All-America honors, five were named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team, six earned all-conference honors (five first-teamers), seven were selected as American Player-of-the-Week, while a pair were drafted by Major League Baseball teams.

The Wilson Hot Stove banquet will begin promptly at 6 p.m. on Jan. 17 following a reception at the North Carolina Baseball Museum, located inside Fleming Stadium that will start at 4 p.m. All proceeds from the banquet, as well as the annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in May, will benefit the N.C. Baseball Museum. Tickets for the event, which are $25 each, are currently on sale at the N.C. Baseball Museum, Dick’s Hot Dog Stand and Earl Boykin Sports.

East Carolina will hold its 2017 Pirate Baseball Banquet inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 28. Former Pirate great and 2012 ECU Hall of Fame inductee John Williamson will serve as the keynote speaker, while WNCT-TV Sports Director Brian Bailey will emcee the event. Former Pirate hurler and current Major Leaguer Shawn Armstrong will also be in attendance doing a sit down question and answer session with Bailey during the event. Ticket information, schedule of events and other information about the event can be found on ECUPirates.com (http://bit.ly/2jfpX0I).