ELON, N.C. – This Wednesday, Feb. 27 sees the Elon University baseball program heading to Greenville, N.C. for a road game at #11 East Carolina. The Phoenix (5-2) and Pirates (5-3) will square off at 4 p.m. inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Elon
So. LH Jared Wetherbee (0-1, 1.35 ERA)
East Carolina
So. RH Gavin Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
THE SERIES
East Carolina hold a 49-31-1 edge in the all-time series dating back to 1940. Elon is looking to snap a five-game streak by the Purple and Gold, who took both meetings last season by scores of 2-1 in Greenville and 3-0 at Elon. The Phoenix last bested the Pirates on March 2, 2016 at Clark-LeClair Stadium when ECU was ranked #16. The maroon and gold needed 10 innings to earn an 8-7 victory, with Ryne Ogren and Liam O’Regan starting off the 10th with back-to-back walks. A one-out walk to Nick Zammarelli loaded the bases for Kyle Jackson, who found a whole through the right side for the deciding run.
Jared Wetherbee (0-1) will start for the maroon and gold. The sophomore lefty made his first career start last week against #22 NC State. He held the Wolfpack to one run on three hits and two walks and tallied seven strikeouts across 5.2 innings.
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates earned series sweeps over Radford and Monmouth but dropped a close game 7-6 at Campbell on Feb. 20 and are coming off a 3-2 loss to Air Force on Monday. Alec Burleson leads the team in batting with a 17-for-30 (.567) clip at the plate. The sophomore’s season totals include one home run, three doubles, nine RBIs, five runs, and three walks. Thomas Francisco follows at .400 and Lane Hoover owns a .364 average.
Gavin Williams, a sophomore right-handed hurler out of Fayetteville, N.C., is expected to get the start on Wednesday. Williams started the game in Buies Creek, N.C., going 4.0 innings with one run on two hits and a walk for a no decision. He added seven strikeouts.
ECU is ranked #11 in the latest Baseball America poll, #14 in the D1 Baseball poll, and #15 by the NCBWA.
BACK-TO-BACK CAA HONORS
George Kirby was named the CAA Pitcher of the Week for the second time in as many weeks earlier in the day. The Rye, N.Y. native picked up his second win as many appearances last Sunday, Feb. 24 in a neutral-site game versus Quinnipiac. Playing in Wake Forest’s David F. Couch Ballpark, the Rye, N.Y. native pitched allowed just one run on six hits through 7.0 complete innings. Against 26 batters, he did not give up a walk and struck out 11 Bobcat batters. He also retired the side in order three times.
DANGEROUS DEVANNEY
Cam Devanney had himself a weekend with multi-hit efforts in both meetings with Wake Forest. On Sunday in Winston-Salem, the redshirt-junior finished 2-for-4 with a long ball, a triple, two runs, and two RBIs. He followed with a 3-for-4 effort in Monday’s home game against the Demon Deacons. The shortstop hit a pair of doubles and came around once. Across seven starts, he is hitting .360 on the season with four extra-base hits, 16 runs driven in, and another nine scored.
ADCOCK DOING IT ALL
Ty Adcock is making his presence known both out in the field and at the plate. The Oxford, N.C. native is batting .273 with a home run, two doubles, 10 RBIs, three runs, and four bases on balls. Defensively, he owns a 1.000 fielding percentage with five putouts and a pair of assists in seven chances. He’s also established himself as the closer for the Phoenix, picking up two saves in as many opportunities. He has a 0.00 ERA with two hits, a walk, and four punch outs in three appearances and 2.2 innings of relief.
ELON IN THE RANKINGS
As of Monday, the Phoenix are currently first in the league in ERA (2.86), fielding percentage (.996), hits allowed per nine innings (5.00), home runs (6), home runs per game (.86), sacrifice flies (5), shutouts (1), and WHIP (1.16). Elon is also second slugging percentage (.458) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.7).
Kirby is tied with five other pitchers in NCAA DI for total strikeouts with 21. He is also tied atop the national rankings for walks allowed per nine innings at 0.00.
UP NEXT
Elon is back at Latham Park this weekend as the Phoenix opens the month of March at home against Wagner. Game one in the three-game series is set for a 4 p.m. first pitch this Friday, March 1.