Preview: Texas Tech VS East Carolina Super Regional

East Carolina, the three-seed from the Charlottesville Regional, has arrived in Lubbock to play a best of three series against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

ECU arrives with a 37-21-1 record and absolutely crushed the ball during their regional.

The coach of the pirates is the alumnus of ECU and was a part of the team the last time the Pirates were in the Super Regional, "People ask me do I remember the super regional in 2001. Yeah, I made the last out, so I remember that 1-0 change-up that I popped straight up. I see it every single day because I was the tying run at the plate." It's that chip on the shoulder attitude that has brought great success to the ECU Pirates this season.

It also is what might make them push too hard this weekend.

"It's going to be a hostile place to play," Godwin said. "Our guys are going to have to manage their emotions. Charlottesville was tough, but from what I hear, this place is going to be even more hostile. I think it's going to be an SEC-type environment in a super regional setting. We're going to need to play well."

Coming from The American Conference, the Pirates don't have as much experience with high-pressure environments as Texas Tech does. It's also not the first experience for most of the Red Raiders in the Super Regional as the bulk of the line up was around during the 2014 run to Omaha. ECU hasn't been to a Super Regional since 2009.

The experience will only go so far in the Red Raiders case as the Friday and Saturday starters are expected to be freshmen Davis Martin and Steven Gingery.

Tadlock spoke to the environment the Texas Tech crowd provided at the Lubbock Regional.

"I think each time you get a chance to play in those environments, you hope your guys grow from it, and we're definitely not going to ask the guys, the fans, not to be up there and be rowdy," he said. "I mean, it's a special place."

A special place that has provided the team with four straight sell-out crowds.

(As a disclaimer, these pitching matchups are based on the Regional appearances of both teams and are subject to change.)

Davis Martin is undefeated on Friday night starts and will be facing off with Evan Kruczynski, who pitched seven scoreless innings of shutout baseball in the Regional round.

The Saturday matchup will feature Red Raiders pitcher Steven Gingery against Pirates pitcher Jacob Wolfe or Jimmy Boyd. Since this is a best of three series, this game might depend on what happens on Friday night as to who represents the Pirates on Saturday.

The Red Raiders rotation is not as deep as the Pirates with only two front-line starters, so Gingery is a given for the Saturday show.

Sunday, if needed, will be either Boyd or Wolfe for ECU and Ryan Moseley starting for the Red Raiders. Moseley was an enigma during the regular season who regressed early found his stride and then fell apart during the final weeks of the season.

The good news is that Moseley has been stellar in playoff baseball dating back to 2014 and the Omaha trip the Red Raiders took. He's pitched 16 innings and has given up one earned run. Let's hope that Ryan Moseley shows up for the Red Raiders if he's needed on Sunday.

The lineups of both teams are similar with the stats edging toward ECU slightly. With the regular season team batting average sitting a mere 10 points apart.

This will be an exciting series but I think the offensive depth and experience will trump East Carolina's momentum from their Regional performance where they over performed on all of their season averages.

I'll take Texas Tech in three games and a ticket to Omaha. Wreck 'Em.