GREENVILLE — As the East Carolina baseball team gets set for its first super regional since 2009, the pitching staff is faced with the daunting task of keeping Texas Tech’s explosive offense at bay.

The Red Raiders were second in the Big 12 in team batting average at .295 and led the conference in homers with 52. All-American Eric Gutierrez started all 61 games for the Red Raiders and hit .350 with 12 home runs and 53 RBI. Gutierrez finished second in the Big 12 RBI race behind Texas Christian freshman Luken Baker and teammate Tyler Neslony — each of whom notched 54 on the season.

Texas Tech had five starters finish with batting averages over .300 despite playing in one of the top pitching conferences in the country. The Red Raiders’ leading hitter, sophomore Tanner Gardner, hit an astounding .376 over the season and struck out just 27 times in 210 at bats.

Cory Raley batted .333 on the year and led the conference in runs scored with 55. Junior Stephen Smith led the Big 12 in total bases with 135 and had the team’s fourth best average at .325 in 61 starts.

Junior southpaw Evan Kruczynski, as he has all year, will take the hill in the first game of the series. Though, he said it is certainly the biggest start of his career, it’s still business as usual.

“It’s been my job all year,” Kruczynski said Tuesday. “It’s my job as the Friday-night starter to set the tone for the weekend. You look back and the weekends I didn’t set the tone, we didn’t have a very good weekend. If I’m out there not attacking the strike zone, I feel like our other pitchers aren’t attacking the strike zone. So I’ll stick to what I do.”

The pitching staff seemed loose before practice on Tuesday. Players jokingly danced between stretches and found time to have laughs during the build up to the most important weekend of the season.

ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said this was nothing new and it speaks to the identity of the team that can keep situations light in tense spots.

“I think it’s real easy for this group to stay loose,” Godwin said. “The way they played this weekend, like I said, when they were down three runs in the eighth inning against UVA, there wasn’t a look in their eyes of like, ‘Oh my God, this moment is too big for us.’ We prepared for that, our season prepared us for that because it’s been a tough season. We’ve gotten up every time we’ve been knocked down.”

Sophomore closer Joe Ingle said balancing intensity and looseness is nothing new for him. However, the environment of Rip Griffin Park is a unique experience.

“It’s hard to balance. You want to be amped, but you don’t want to be over amped,” Ingle said. “Especially going into an environment like Texas Tech has. I was just watching (in the clubhouse) and that place lights up when things are going well for them. It’s going to be tough because we’ve never played in an environment like that. But it’ll be fun, it’s a good little test.”

ECU’s freshman bullpen pitchers have been key cogs this season for Godwin. Matt Bridges, Sam Lanier and Chris Holba pitched crucial innings in ECU’s regional victories, perhaps none more important than Lanier’s outing against William & Mary down the stretch.

In ECU’s regional championship victory, Lanier threw five innings out of the bullpen, allowed just one hit, one walk and struck out seven while earning the win. Lanier said he no longer feels like a freshman at this point of the season and his confidence is riding high as the Pirates enter the Lubbock Super Regional.

“I’d say (my confidence) is pretty high right now,” Lanier said. “We played three great games there and it was a total team effort. I’m feeling really good about it.”

Jimmy Boyd will likely take the start in Game Two of the super regional while Jacob Wolfe will be ready to go if a Game Three is necessary.