As the tenth seed nationally, ECU will open play as the host of NCAA Greenville Regional Friday night at 6 p.m. The team appeared loose and confident during practice on Thursday.
Sophomore left-hander Jake Kuchmaner(6-2/2.83 ERA) will get the start on the mound for an ECU team that hopes to get off to a fast start and then get ready for the winner of the Campbell - N.C. State matchup on Saturday. It will be Jake’s fifteenth appearance of the year for ECU.
“There is always a lot of discussion, but we’re going to go with Kuch because we feel like it’s a good matchup for us. Obviously Kuch has a good pickoff move but that wasn’t the deciding factor why he’s throwing in game one.”
“We’ve got to win game one so I haven’t looked at N.C. State or thought about Campbell. I’m just worried about Friday night at 6 o’clock.
Kuchmaner said he found out earlier in the week that he would get the start on Friday. He seemed calm and collected on Thursday and says it should be just another day at the ballpark.
“Tomorrow is the same as it has been all year. We’ve prepared all week, we’ve prepared all year and we prepared all fall, so it’s nothing different. It’s just another game. That’s how we try to think about it. It’s just not making it more than it is."
ECU’s opponent will be fourth seeded Quinnipiac that needed to go 13 innings to outlast Fairfield and win the MAAC tournament title. It is their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in fourteen years.
For MAAC Tournament Most Valuable Player and senior outfielder Brian Moskey it’s been a long time coming.
“This is unbelievable and what we’ve wanted for four years since we have stepped on campus. Anthony Cruz, one of our captains, he has been here for five years,” said Moskey, “It is relieving because this is where we should be but at the same time, it feels so good to accomplish that.”
ECU head coach Cliff Godwin appeared confidence and poised with the press after practice. One area of concern has been the bullpen where it’s been a bit of an adventure over the last few weeks of the season and in the AAC Tournament, but Godwin wasn’t buying into that notion on Thursday.
“I’d like to say they’ve had a lot more ups than they’ve had downs. We’ve only lost 15 games,” said Godwin, “We’ve got a lot more experience back there with Evan Voliva, Gavin Williams, Zach Barnes and Sam Lanier, even Ryder Giles as a freshman. I mean he can go in there and Alec Burleson who has started and relieved so a lot of guys have had experience.”
“They’re ready to play. It was a hard practice on Sunday, a hard practice on Tuesday. Monday they had off and Wednesday was a shorter practice but still intense,” said Godwin, “Today was intense but it was only for a hour and fifteen minutes so I thought the guys did a really good job of showing up, bouncing around and having a ton of energy this morning.”
Godwin says he doesn’t see a lot of change in his approach over the course of time when it comes to regional strategy.
“I know I haven’t changed a whole lot so maybe a little more relaxed this time around compared to when I was an assistant coach five to ten years ago. Other than that, I’m just who I am and what you see is what you get.”
ECU shortstop Turner Brown was optimistic about having three in-state teams in this year’s Greenville Regional.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s fun for the state of North Carolina and shows how good the baseball is in the state of North Carolina,” said Brown.
