ECU baseball takes home multiple AAC yearly honors

CLEARWATER, Fla. – After securing its fifth-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title over the weekend, East Carolina was recognized by the league with several postseason awards according to the release of the postseason honors Monday afternoon.

Carter Cunningham earned Player of the Year accolades while Trey Yesavage was named the unanimous Pitcher of the Year, Ryley Johnson was tabbed 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 a pair of rookies on the All-Freshman Team.

Cunningham is the first Pirate to claim Player of the Year laurels since Connor Norby in 2021. He currently leads the league in batting average (.396), runs scored (68), slugging percentage (.696) and OPS (1.186) while slotting second in on base percentage (.490), hits (82) and RBI (59). Cunningham also slots 20th nationally in batting average and 21st in hits.

Yesavage is the fourth ECU hurler to garner Pitcher of the Year designation and the first since Carter Spivey in 2022. The junior is third in the country in victories (11) as well as fourth in strikeouts (139), fifth in earned run average (2.09), sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (14.55) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.02) and ninth in WHIP (0.88). Yesavage paces the AAC in ERA, opposing batting average (.162), strikeouts and victories. He is just seven strikeouts away from setting the program single-season record.

Johnson has made a number of highlight reel catches as the ECU everyday center fielder this season and has not committed an error in 115 defensive chances. In addition to his defensive prowess, he is also batting .346 with 29 RBI, 36 walks drawn and 20 stolen bases.

Yesavage, Cunningham, Johnson, Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman , Justin Wilcoxen and Jacob Jenkins-Cowart were all named to the All-AAC First Team. With the six first-team selections, the Pirates have had at least one player named to a first team in 20-straight years (2004-present, none in 2020) and a total of 28 different first-team picks since joining The American in 2015.

Two additional ECU players in Danny Beal (P) and Ryan McCrystal (DH) garnered second-team honors. Bristol Carter (OF) and Ethan Norby (P) were also tabbed to the All-Freshman Team.

Top-seeded East Carolina opens the 2024 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tuesday when it faces off with No. 8 seed Rice inside BayCare Ballpark. The contest is slated to begin approximately 47 minutes following the conclusion of the tournament’s opening game between fourth-seeded Wichita State and No. 5 seed UAB which is set for a 9 a.m. first pitch.

2024 All-American Athletic Conference Teams and Awards
Player of the Year
Carter Cunningham , Sr., 1B, East Carolina

Pitcher of the Year
Trey Yesavage , Jr., East Carolina*

Newcomer Position Player of the Year
Mason Lytle, Jr., OF, UTSA

Newcomer Pitcher of the Year
Tommy Lapour, Fr., Wichita State

Defensive Player of the Year
Ryley Johnson , Jr., OF, East Carolina

Coach of the Year
Cliff Godwin , East Carolina

All-Conference First Team
P – Blayze Berry, Sr., UAB*
P – Trey Yesavage , Jr., East Carolina*
P – Ulises Quiroga, Sr., UTSA
P – Caden Favors, Sr., Wichita State
RP – Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman , Jr., East Carolina
C – Justin Wilcoxen , Sr., East Carolina
1B – Carter Cunningham , Sr., East Carolina*
2B – Bobby Boser, Jr., South Florida
SS – Matt King, Jr., UTSA
3B – Gavin Schulz, Jr., Tulane
OF – Jacob Jenkins-Cowart , Jr., East Carolina
OF – Ryley Johnson , Jr., East Carolina
OF – Mason Lytle, Jr., UTSA
DH – Alexander Olivo, Sr., UTSA
UTL – Ben Rozenblum, R-Sr., South Florida

All-Conference Second Team
P – Colin Daniel, So., UAB
P – Danny Beal , Sr., East Carolina
P – C.J. Williams, Sr., Florida Atlantic
P – Tommy LaPour, Fr., Wichita State
RP – Ruger Riojas, So., UTSA
C – Colin Tuft, Jr., Tulane
1B – Brady Marget, Jr., Tulane
2B – Connor Rasmussen, So., Tulane
SS – Gavin Lewis Jr, Jr., UAB
3B – Camden Johnson, Fr., Wichita State
OF – Caleb Hill, Sr., UTSA
OF – Derek Williams, Jr., Wichita State
OF – Logan Branschweig, Jr., UAB
DH – Ryan McCrystal , Jr., East Carolina
UTL – Michael Lombardi, So., Tulane

All-Freshman Team
Bristol Carter , OF, East Carolina
Ethan Norby , P, East Carolina*
Trey Beard, P, Florida Atlantic
Emilio Gonzalez, INF, Florida Atlantic
Diego Diaz, 2B, UTSA
Robert Orloski, P, UTSA
Tyler Dobbs, P, Wichita State
Lane Haworth, OF, Wichita State
Camden Johnson, INF, Wichita State
Tommy LaPour, P, Wichita State*

* denotes unanimous selection

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