East Carolina University Baseball

Addendum Cliff Godwin, who has been a part of 14 NCAA Regional and two College World Series appearances coaching at the Division I level, completed his 10th year as head baseball coach at East Carolina University in 2024. A four-year letterman for the Pirates, Godwin was appointed as ECU’s 16th skipper in the school’s history on June 25, 2014, after completing a three-year stay at the University of Mississippi. During his 10 years at the helm of the program, Godwin, a four-time American Athletic Conference Coach-of-the-Year honoree, has guided ECU to eight NCAA Regional berths (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024 Greenville Regional host), four Super Regional appearances (2022 Greenville Super Regional host), five American Athletic Conference regular season and three AAC Tournament crowns while posting a 397-187-1 (.679) overall record. Under his direction, 14 players have earned All-America status while 25 have been named to NCAA All-Regional Teams. Additionally, 46 student-athletes have garnered all-conference status (27 first-team selections) and 28 players have been drafted by Major League Baseball teams. Under Godwin, a two-time Academic All-America selection as a player at ECU, the Pirates have had over 400 student-athletes earn a spot on the East Carolina Director of Athletics Honor Roll (3.0 GPA or higher) while upwards of 200 players have earned AAC All-Academic Team honors – including all 39 members of the 2024 club. ECU has also earned nine-straight AAC and American Ba

BaseballSkip AdJones, AJAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

Austin Knight, who served two years as the volunteer assistant coach at East Carolina, was officially named the Pirates’ pitching coach on July 7, 2021. The 2024 campaign marked his third in charge of the ECU pitching staff. With Knight as part of the program, the Pirates have captured four American Athletic Conference regular season titles (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and the 2022 AAC Tournament crown as well as posting four NCAA Regional appearances (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), a home Super Regional (2022) and 196 total victories. A four-year letterman at Ole Miss (2012-15), Knight worked alongside former ECU pitching and current Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Jason Dietrich in 2021 helping the Pirates to a 44-17 overall record, the American Athletic Conference regular season title, NCAA Greenville Regional championship as the No. 13 National Seed and an appearance in the Nashville Super Regional. In 2024, Knight continued to leave his mark on an elite ECU pitching staff that produced a pair of All-Americans and three MLB Draft selections. Trey Yesavage finished out his Pirate career as a consensus First Team All-America honoree, garnering the accolade from the ABCA, Baseball America, College Baseball Foundation, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game. He was named the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and collected a spot on the NCAA Greenville Regional All-Tournament Team, slotting among the national leaders in several categories. Yesavage finished the campaign ranked

BaseballSkip AdCollins, AveryAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

BaseballSkip AdAustin, Bobby Agnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

Former East Carolina Baseball All-American Bryant Packard was officially named the director of player development for baseball on July 14, 2025. He will work...

BaseballSkip AdCrisp, CaymanAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

Hunter Martin was hired in 2024 as an Associate Athletic Trainer for the Pirates Baseball Program. He completed a post-graduate fellowship with the 2023 Mississippi State University Baseball team. He spent the 2023 and 2024 professional baseball seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization as the Complex League Athletic Trainer. Martin, originally from Dewy Rose, Georgia, completed a B.S. in Sports Medicine and M.S. in Athletic Training at the University of North Georgia. Hunter and his wife McKenzie have a son (Elliott).

BaseballSkip AdAgnos, JakeAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

Former National Assistant Coach of the Year and 2021 NCAA College World Series Champion Jake Gautreau was been named an assistant coach and hitting coach at East Carolina University on July 2, 2025. Gautreau comes to Greenville after spending the previous eight seasons at Mississippi State (2018-25) were he served as the hitting and infield coach, as well as the recruiting coordinator. During his tenure, he helped the program to four NCAA Regional and three CWS appearances, which included a national championship in 2021. The Bulldogs posted 282 victories during that time frame including three 40-plus win campaigns and topped the 50-win mark in 2019 (52) and 2021 (50). In all, he worked with nine players that have garnered All-America or Freshman All-America honors that tallied nearly 40 team inclusions. On top of his National Assistant Coach of the Year honor from D1Baseball in 2019, the McAllen, Texas native led all Texas high schoolers in home runs as a prep junior, earned All-America honors each of his three seasons at Tulane before the San Diego Padres took him with the 14th overall pick in the first round of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft. As a professional, he rated as a Top 10 prospect in the San Diego Padres organization before transitioning into coaching in 2009 and earning Perfect Game's 'Assistant Ready to Lead' distinction in 2013. The Conference USA Hall of Famer began his coaching career at his alma mater, Tulane, and he spent five years (2009-14) as an as

Jeff Palumbo, a 19-year coaching veteran at the Division I level, recently completed his 10th season as a member of East Carolina’s coaching staff and fifth as an associate head coach and recruiting coordinator – a position he was elevated to on July 22, 2019. Following coaching stints at George Mason, UCF and Virginia Commonwealth, Palumbo arrived in Greenville on July 1, 2014. He oversees all aspects of the Pirates’ recruiting efforts, serves as the base running and infield coach and assists Head Coach Cliff Godwin with the hitters. Palumbo has directed ECU’s recruiting efforts that have garnered national attention since stepping on campus, which included consecutive Top 25 national rankings for its 2015-16 (D1Baseball/18, Baseball Amer­ica/23) and 2016-17 classes (Baseball America/19, D1Baseball/20), while also being tabbed as one of the nation’s Top 30 recruiters by his peers. His 2021-22 and 2023-24 classes were also ranked 26th by Collegiate Baseball. During his 10-year tenure in Greenville, Palumbo has had a direct hand in mentoring six All-Americans, six freshman All-Americans, 12 Major League Draft selections and 21 All-American Athletic Conference performers going back to 2015. He has helped the Pirates post 397 total wins with seven 40-plus winning campaigns (six straight), earn eight NCAA Regional berths (five as a host), appear in four Super Regionals (2016, 2019, 2021, 2022) and claim eight AAC titles (five regular season, three tournaments). Palumbo’s teams hav

BaseballSkip AdHenderson, KylerAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

BaseballSkip AdFrost, RileyAgnos, JakeAustin, Bobby Collins, AveryCrisp, CaymanFrancisco, ThomasFrost, RileyGautreau, JakeGodwin, CliffHenderson, KylerJones, AJKnight, AustinPackard, BryantPalumbo, Jeff

Thomas Francisco was named the Director of Operations for the ECU Baseball Team in June of 2025. Francisco, who was selected in the 19th round of the 2021 Ma...

Valerie Rudd is in her first year at East Carolina University as an assistant media relations director, a position she officially began on Oct. 6, 2025. Rudd comes to ECU after working one year at Abilene Christian University as a media relations coordinator. While at ACU, she served as the primary communications contact for soccer, cross country, track and field, and baseball, and as the secondary contact for football. Originally from Huntington Beach, California, Rudd graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in communications. A former Division I softball student-athlete, she played from 2019 to 2021 for ACU before transitioning into a career in athletics media. Before her current role, she briefly left athletics to work in advertising with the company DesignWorks Group. During her senior year of college, Rudd served as a marketing and media intern for ACU Athletics, where she aided the marketing department, as well as the media relations department. In her internship, she worked primarily with men's and women's basketball and baseball.