Friday, Feb. 19 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern
Coverage: Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Pitching Matchup
Rhody: RHP Ryan Twitchell
ECU: RHP Tyler Smith
 
Saturday, Feb. 20 – 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Coverage: Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Pitching Matchup
Rhody: RHP Mike Webb
ECU: LHP Jake Kuchmaner
 
Sunday, Feb. 21 – 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Coverage: Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Pitching Matchup
Rhody: RHP Vitaly Jangols
ECU: LHP Carson Whisenhunt
 
Rams vs. Pirates
East Carolina leads the all-time series, 4-0. The teams last met in 2008, when ECU swept a three-game series in Greenville, N.C.

Scouting East Carolina

• East Carolina is a consensus preseason Top 25 program. It is ranked No. 13 by Perfect Game, No. 19 the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and No. 25 by D1Baseball.com.
• The Pirates were picked to win the American Athletics Conference, the third straight season it has landed in the top spot of the preseason poll.
• ECU won the league title in 2019, winning a program-record 20 games in AAC play.
• Last season, the Pirates were 13-4 before the COVID pandemic ended the season.
• ECU had a pair of players named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association Preseason All-America Team. Junior outfielder Bryson Worrell earned second-team honors and junior left-handed pitcher Jake Kuchmaner was a third-team selection.
• Worrell started all 17 games for ECU last season, batting .377 with five home runs, six doubles and 14 runs batted in.
• Kuchmaner – who is slated to start the middle game of the series – was 4-0 last season with an earned-run average of 0.60. He allowed one run on 12 hits in 15 innings of work.
• ECU Director of Media Relations Malcolm Gray was awarded the NCBWA Wilbur Snypp Award for outstanding contributions to college baseball. The announcement came out on Thursday.

Rhode Island in 2020

• Rhode Island returns nine players who started at least eight of the 13 games it played last season. Josh Brodeur and Xavier Vargas started all 13 games last season.
• Outfielder Austin White is the team's top returning hitter. He batted .378 last year, followed by Brodeur (.365) and Vargas (.283).
• Vargas tied Jackson Coutts for the team lead in home runs with four last season. Coutts is the lone regular who did not return from last season after he signed with the Washington Nationals.
• Junior Ryan Twitchell gets the nod in the season opener for the Rams. While he did not make a start last season, he did start nine games in 2019.
• Pawtucket native Mike Webb will make his Rhody debut on the mound Saturday. He joined URI after transferring from Rhode Island College.
• Senior Vitaly Jangols takes the hill Sunday. He was 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts last year. He hurled a team-high 21.0 innings in 2020.