Super Regional Preview: East Carolina-Texas Tech

LUBBOCK SUPER REGIONAL

Hosted by Texas Tech (No. 5 national seed) • Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park • Lubbock, Texas

East Carolina (37-21) at Texas Tech (45-17)

Follow the action on Twitter: @TTU_Baseball | @ECUBaseball

Friday
8 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday
3 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday
3 p.m. (ESPN2 or ESPNU)

East Carolina

Coach: Cliff Godwin
Postseason History: fourth super regional appearance (first since 2009). Seeking first trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 3 seed in Charlottesville Regional. Won in three games, beating William & Mary in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Travis Watkins	R	Jr.	.323	.399	.453	5	37	25	39	3
1B	Bryce Harman	L	Jr.	.247	.374	.388	4	25	28	45	2
2B	Charlie Yorgen	L	Jr.	.271	.351	.339	1	22	23	29	6
3B	Eric Tyler	L	Jr.	.309	.382	.430	5	36	17	33	7
SS	Turner Brown	B	Fr.	.278	.376	.353	3	33	20	29	9
OF	Parker Lamm	R	Sr.	.281	.329	.317	0	28	13	25	12
OF	Garrett Brooks	L	Sr.	.321	.385	.434	1	20	14	28	4
OF	Dwanya Williams-Sutton	R	Fr.	.359	.458	.563	5	27	25	44	7
DH	Luke Bolka	R	Jr.	.307	.398	.467	3	12	10	26	3
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Evan Kruczynski	L	Jr.	7	1	0	1.86	111	22	89	.244
SP	Jimmy Boyd	R	Sr.	7	5	0	2.90	96	19	58	.226
SP	Jacob Wolfe	L	Jr.	6	3	0	2.66	88	30	56	.245
RP	Joe Ingle	R	So.	6	3	12	3.97	48	35	69	.203

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Pirates)

“I think Cliff (Godwin) does a great job of getting them to play together as a team and play with tremendous energy. They’re not gonna overwhelm you in any one phase, but they play the game really well. They’ve got some guys in the middle of the order that can swing it a little bit . . . Those couple of guys in the middle, they’ll hurt you if you leave something out over the plate, but really Cliff’s just done a great job of coaching that bunch.

“The Friday night kid, the lefty, (Evan Kruczynski) does a tremendous job of not elevating the ball. He never really throws the same pitch in the same spot twice. Can really pitch. Really, really good pickoff move. Your hands are tied offensively when he’s on the mound as far as anything from a running-game standpoint.

“I think they’ve done it with a whole cast of characters this year. There’s not just one guy that can beat you. They can beat you one through nine in their lineup. It’s just been a different guy on different days for them. They pitch well. They just don’t give up the big innings. They’re real efficient in what they do. Their pitching plan is really good. They don’t elevate many balls in the zone. They’re going to establish their fastball early and keep it down. They’ll mix it very well. They don’t allow you to sit there and bang away at it.

“I think bullpen depth, from what I remember, is solid. They all just kind of come right at you. Ingle’s their guy. He’s gonna come right at you with his stuff and make you hit it. He’s not going to let you hit it. He’s not going to pitch around you. He’s got great presence out there. I think we got some hits off of him, and he did great job staying in his deal.

“They’ve got the pitching to get through it. Offensively, they’re good enough. They’re real similar to Texas Tech. Tech’s gonna beat you with the bat a little bit more because they’ve got so many veteran hitters in there, but you’re talking about similar styles of play and coaching, and the pitching staff’s real similar. To me, the whole matchup is a toss-up.”

Texas Tech

Coach: Tim Tadlock
Postseason History: second super regional appearance (first since 2014). Seeking second trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Lubbock Regional. Won in four games, beating Dallas Baptist in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Tyler Floyd	R	Sr.	.232	.338	.320	1	16	15	24	2
1B	Eric Gutierrez	R	Sr.	.330	.460	.590	12	53	38	32	3
2B	Michael Davis	L	So.	.276	.355	.391	2	34	27	57	5
3B	Hunter Hargrove	R	Jr.	.310	.384	.464	2	22	10	5	2
SS	Orlando Garcia	R	So.	.261	.376	.432	6	29	27	36	5
OF	Tyler Neslony	L	Sr.	.308	.398	.526	9	54	28	41	3
OF	Tanner Gardner	B	So.	.376	.484	.552	3	34	39	27	6
OF	Stephen Smith	R	Jr.	.325	.431	.542	10	39	38	32	7
DH	Cory Raley	R	Sr.	.333	.424	.483	6	52	36	55	19
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Davis Martin	R	Fr.	9	0	2	2.31	78	22	56	.225
SP	Steven Gingery	L	Fr.	4	2	0	3.38	59	27	56	.237
SP	Ty Damron	L	Jr.	4	2	0	6.52	50	25	43	.267
RP	Hayden Howard	L	Jr.	9	3	8	3.13	75	18	49	.248

(anonymous coach breaks down the Red Raiders)

“Offensively, all nine guys in their lineup are tough. They’ve got guys that can really hurt you. Smith, Gardner, Gutierrez, Neslony. Smith, Gardner and Gutierrez are the toughest guys to me that can beat you. Neslony is good. Smith, especially being at the top of the lineup, is tough to pitch to. He’s not a big guy and his strike zone is kind of small. He can hurt you with power, too. Gardner, it seemed like he hit everything. He hits lefties and righties. Gutierrez is a mature hitter. Even guys like Hunter Hargrove, he’s just a tough out.

“To me, I thought you could get to (their pitching). They’re young on the mound and maybe those guys are starting to wear down a little bit. I felt like we did a good job against their pitching staff. We didn’t give in, we made them pitch to us and were patient. There’s really no holes in that offense. Them and TCU are on different levels offensively in our league.

“I think (they benefit from playing at Griffin Park). I think it’s a familiar place for them. The fans will get pretty excited there and it can get pretty loud. It’s always been a hostile environment, rowdy. They’re definitely loud and they show up. It’ll be raucous this weekend for sure.”