ECU baseball: Pirates dominate All-AAC awards

East Carolina placed a loaded team on the American Athletic Conference’s All-AAC team, which was announced on Monday.

Carter Cunningham earned Player of the Year honors while Trey Yesavage was named the unanimous Pitcher of the Year. Ryley Johnson was named Defensive Player of the Year and Cliff Godwin picked up Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time in his career.

ECU landed six players on the All-AAC first team, as well as two on the second team and two rookies on the All-Freshman team.

Cunningham is the first Pirate to claim Player of the Year honors since Connor Norby in 2021. Cunningham currently leads the league in batting average (.396), runs scored (68), slugging percentage (.696) and OPS (1.186).

Yesavage is the fourth ECU pitcher to garner Pitcher of the Year honors, and the first since Carter Spivey in 2022.

Yesavage, Cunningham, Johnson, Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, Justin Wilcoxen and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart were all named to the first team. Danny Beal and Ryan McCrystal were named to the second team, while Bristol Carter and Ethan Norby landed on the All-Freshman team.

Golden Spikes Award

Junior pitchers Lunsford-Shenkman and Yesavage were selected as semifinalists for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, USA Baseball announced this week.

The award honors the amateur baseball player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship.

Twenty different schools are represented in this year’s semifinalist group, including five programs that placed two players each: East Carolina, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Wake Forest. Eight athletes played their way onto the list after missing out on the midseason watch list in April.

Lunsford-Shenkman and Yesavage are the fourth and fifth ECU players to be semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award and the first players since Connor Norby and Gavin Williams in 2021. Corey Kemp was also a semifinalist in 2008.

Lunsford-Shenkman owns a 1.20 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 17 walks in 45.0 innings. Opposing batters are hitting .218. He leads the Pirates in saves (five) and is second in strikeouts.

Yesavage is third in the country in victories (11) as well as fourth in strikeouts (139), fifth in ERA (2.09), sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (14.55), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.02) and ninth in WHIP (0.88). Yesavage leads the AAC in ERA, opposing batting average (.162), strikeouts and victories. He is just seven strikeouts away from setting the program single-season record.

LSU’s Dylan Crews is the most recent winner of the Golden Spikes Award. Other recent winners include Ivan Melendez (2022), Kevin Kopps (2021), Adley Rutschman (2019), Andrew Vaughn (2018), Brendan McKay (2017), Kyle Lewis (2016), Andrew Benintendi (2015), A.J. Reed (2014), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008), and David Price (2007).

Fans can vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 5, and fan voting will once again open before closing on June 21.