BUIES CREEK, N.C. — For the fourth time since 2017, Campbell baseball is set to host ECU for its first midweek home game at Jim Perry Stadium, welcoming the 16th-ranked Pirates for a 5 p.m. first pitch on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
Wednesday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live stats will be provided through SIDEARM Stats on GoCamels.com. Additionally, all fans will receive a free Campbell Athletics rally towel, while supplies last. Gates will open 90 minutes before first pitch.
Projected Starting Pitchers
CU Starter: #17 Zach Adams (RHP, So.)
ECU Starter: #17 Elijah Gill (LHP, Jr.)
Last Time Out for CU
The Fighting Camels opened their 2020 season down in Mobile, Ala., with a three-game series against nationally-ranked South Alabama, dropping their first two contests but coming away with a series-finale victory on Saturday night.
Kevin Westlake, Jack Yusko and Brendan Wright held the Jaguar offense to just three hits in Campbell's 7-3 win. Westlake collected the win, striking out a career-best seven batters in the first five innings, while issuing four walks.
Collin Wolf, Waldy Arias and A.J. Hrica led the Campbell offense during the Opening Weekend series, combining to hit .441 (13-for-34) at the dish. All three had three-hit outings once, with Wolf leading the way in CU's win on Saturday with a 3-for-5 showing.
Cowan Receives Big South Weekly Honor
After tying the Campbell single-game record for strikeouts with 15 on Opening Day, Cam Cowan was named the Big South Starting Pitcher of the Week on Monday. He struck out at least one batter in all nine innings, fanning the side in the first and again in the eighth.
A transfer from Kirkwood Community College, Cowan only allowed three base runners across his first 27 batters, not allowing a base hit until the bottom of the sixth, which was an one-out bunt single.
2020 Camels Picked as Preseason Favorites
The Fighting Camels enter the 2020 campaign as the Big South preseason favorite, according to the league's head coaches, Perfect Game and D1Baseball. The 2020 team features 13 newcomers, including eight junior college transfers and five freshmen.
In the Big South coaches poll, Campbell received seven first-place votes, collecting 91 of the possible 100 points to garner the top spot for the second year in a row.
High Point was voted second in the preseason poll for the second year in a row, with a total of 85 points. Radford received 79 votes to finish in third place while Winthrop was selected to finish fourth with 74 points. High Point, Radford and Winthrop each received one first-place vote.
Scouting No. 19 ECU
No. 19 ECU (3-0) swept the visiting William & Mary Tribe last weekend in Greenville, winning 2-1 in walk-off fashion on Opening Day, before outscoring W&M 18-7 in the final two games.
Led by Thomas Francisco's .625 (5-for-8) outing and Zach Agnos' .455 (5-for-11) performance in the series, the Pirates hit a combined .327 in the opening weekend. The Pirate pitching staff limited the Tribe to a .186 batting average while striking out 44 batters in 29.0 innings.
The Pirates advanced to the Louisville Super Regional in 2019 after defeating the Camels twice in the Greenville Regional championship series. Louisville bested ECU in two games, ultimately losing in the NCAA College World Series to the eventual national champion Vanderbilt.
Series History vs. ECU
Campbell and ECU met four times in 2019, including twice in the NCAA Greenville Regional championship series.
Campbell defeated the Pirates in the only meeting in Buies Creek last season, 7-6, on Luis Gimenez' walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning. Seven Camels combined to strike out 11 Pirates in ECU's first setback of 2019, with each CU pitcher recording at least one strikeout.
In the two regional games against ECU in 2019, Spencer Packard finished 6-for-9 with four doubles and five RBI, but the Pirates pulled away with two victories, outscoring the Camels by 16 runs, 22-6.
Wednesday's game will be the 78th meeting between the two programs during Campbell's NCAA Division I era since 1978. East Carolina holds a 54-23 advantage over Campbell in the all-time series, including an 8-2 mark in the last 10 games.
The 2018 installment of the Campbell-East Carolina series drew the second-largest crowd in Jim Perry Stadium history, with 1,428 spectators in attendance. The meeting in 2017 attracted the facility attendance record of 1,563.
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