GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina garnered its first preseason national ranking of the 2023 campaign Tuesday morning as Collegiate Baseball slotted the Pirates at No. 20 in its Fabulous 50 Preseason Poll.

ECU has appeared in the last five Collegiate Baseball preseason polls and in the top 25 in the last three. The Pirates were tabbed No. 8 a year ago and 16th in 2021.

East Carolina is scheduled to play eight contests against squads in the top 50 on the list, including three versus No. 11 North Carolina, a home and home set with No. 30 NC State and its American Athletic Conference opening series at No. 34 Houston.

The Pirates are just 59 days away from opening the 2023 season with a three-game home series (Feb. 17-19) against George Washington at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

2023 Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 50 Preseason Poll (Top 25 Only)
LSU (498)
Florida (495)
Stanford (491)
Texas A&M (489)
Tennessee (485)
Louisville (482)
Arkansas (479)
Miami (Fla.) (476)
Vanderbilt (475)
Wake Forest (472)
North Carolina (470)
Oklahoma State (467)
UCLA (465)
UC Santa Barbara (463)
TCU (460)
Virginia (457)
Texas Tech (454)
Southern Miss (452)
Oregon (450)
East Carolina (449)
Maryland (447)
Mississippi State (444)
Georgia Tech (440)
Ole Miss (438)
Texas (435)

About East Carolina

  • ECU captured its third-straight American Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2022, finishing the campaign with 46 victories – its most since a 47-victory campaign in 2019. East Carolina posted a 20-4 record in league play, outpacing second-place UCF by six games.
  • The Pirates hosted an NCAA Regional for the fourth-straight season, joining Stanford as the only team to do so.
  • ECU earned the No. 8 national seed, its highest since it was the No. 7 national seed in 2001 and hosted a regional in Wilson, N.C.
  • The Pirates finished at No. 8 in the final 2022 NCAA RPI ranking.
  • Ninth-year head coach Cliff Godwin was tabbed the AAC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.
  • East Carolina returns the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and Third-Team All-American RHP Carter Spivey as well as freshman All-America selection and AAC Baseball Championship Most Outstanding Player outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and the 2022 squad’s leader in batting average outfielder Lane Hoover.
  • Spivey was selected to the 2023 Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America Second Team on Dec. 19.
  • ECU welcomes back six All-AAC honorees to this year’s squad: Lane Hoover (First Team), Carter Spivey (First Team), Cam Clonch (Second Team), Alec Makarewicz (Second Team), Garrett Saylor (Second Team) and Jacob Starling (Second Team).
  • The Pirates finished among the top 40 nationally in 12 statistical categories in 2022, ECU was third among NCAA Division I squads in both fielding percentage and sacrifice flies.
  • East Carolina is the only team in the nation to have won 40 games the last four seasons, host four-straight NCAA Regionals and play in three-straight NCAA Super Regionals.
  • ECU checked in at No. 22 on D1Baseball’s recently-released Top 100 collegiate baseball programs.