GREENVILLE (WNCT) – East Carolina will welcome Western Carolina, nationally ranked St. John’s and Appalachian State to town for this weekend’s Keith LeClair Classic.

The event honors former ECU Coach Keith LeClair, who lost his battle with ALS in 2006 and passed away at the age of 40.

Pirate Coach Cliff Godwin played for LeClair and looks forward to this year’s event.

“Anything that’s got Coach LeClair’s name on it is special to me,” said Godwin. “It’s also special to all of Pirate Nation and to our fan base. We just want to come out and play like Coach LeClair would want us to play. We want to play hard and compete as well as we can.”

Pirate senior Charlie Yorgen agreed and says the entire team knows what the LeClair name means to Pirate baseball.

“Anytime you can try and represent what Coach LeClair stood for it’s a great opportunity,” said Yorgen. “We don’t overlook it, and we don’t take it for granted. We’re very thankful that we can come out and play and represent Coach LeClair and hopefully play the way he represented. We’re very excited and it’s a special thing to have a tournament like that every year.”