Godwin Brings In Ten New Pirates
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Fifth-year head coach Cliff Godwin formally announced ECU baseball’s 10-man incoming class Friday, which features five position players, three pitchers and a pair of two-way players.
The 2018-19 recruiting class consists of two infielders (Thomas Francisco and Ryder Giles), three outfielders (Lane Hoover, Christian Jayne and Christian Smallwood), a pair of two-way players (Connor Norby and Stephen Wilmer) and three pitchers (Evan Odum, Garrett Saylor and Carter Spivey).
“As always, we are very excited about our new Pirates, which began class on Monday,” Godwin said. “Coach Palumbo, Coach Roszel and our entire support staff work very hard each year to recruit very talented baseball players, who will provide a positive impact to our program on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.”
During his four years at the helm of the program, Godwin has guided ECU to three NCAA Regional berths (2018 Greenville Regional host), a Super Regional appearance, two American Athletic Conference Tournament titles and a 154-91-1 (.628) overall record. Eight players have earned All-America status, seven were NCAA All-Regional selections, 12 took home all-conference honors (11 first-teamers), 11 were selected as American Player-of-the-Week, while six were drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
The new players and the veteran members of the ECU squad began fall classes Monday, Aug. 20, and will engage in a four-week period of conditioning drills and individual workouts.
ECU begins its six-week, full-squad fall practice session on Thursday, Sept. 27 and will scrimmage every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium leading up to their annual Purple & Gold World Series, which will be held Nov. 2-4 (times to be determined) and is free of charge to the fans.
The Pirates return 23 letterwinners, including USA Collegiate National Team members Jake Agnos and All-American Bryant Packard, Freshman All-America selections Spencer Brickhouse (2017) and Alec Burleson (2018) as well as 2018 AAC All-Tournament honorees Turner Brown and Jake Kuchmaner. In all, the roster consists of nine freshmen, eight sophomores, 10 juniors and seven seniors.
-ECU Athletic Media Relations Press Release
