GREENVILLE — With more questions than answers, the East Carolina pitching staff has found itself in a midseason conundrum, and caught in the middle of it all is senior pitcher Reid Love.

Love, who was expected to be the team’s ace before the season started, suffered a hand injury before Opening Day and was temporarily moved to the bullpen, limited until fully healed.

Now healthy, first year head coach Cliff Godwin has used Love in an array of situations.

Early in the year he was used as a midweek starter and a back-end of the bullpen pitcher. Most recently, however, the senior pitcher was called upon to start against South Florida on Friday. Love pitched 6.1 innings, allowed six hits and two earned runs, striking out four.

The performance marked his second-consecutive quality start on a Friday, which is oftentimes reserved for the team’s ace.

Last weekend against Tulane, Love pitched a complete-game shutout and faced only four batters over the minimum. It was his best outing of the year and helped propel the Pirates to their first ever American Athletic Conference victory.

But even with his recent hot hand, Love would perhaps be best utilized out of the bullpen and in a “do-everything” type of role, akin to Ryan Williams from a season ago.

Like Williams, who has dazzled in the Cubs minor league system thus far, Love is one of the best pitchers on the team and has the stamina to be a starter. However, versatility has proven to be the most important quality that Love has to offer.

Last season, the Pirate pitching staff was full of talent, including ace and the No. 9 overall pick in last season’s MLB draft, Jeff Hoffman. The Pirates from a season ago also benefited from having a bonafide closer in Drew Reynolds.

This season, however, ECU has had to deal with a lack of depth in the bullpen, no clear-cut closer and the departures of Hoffman, Reynolds and Williams, arguably the top talent on last year’s team.

With Love having shown his flexibility — as evident by his four saves, four starts and 15 appearances — it might be wise to use him in a similar fashion as Williams.

It might not be Love’s preference, but frankly his rotation mates have outperformed him so far this season.

The weekend slate of Evan Kruczynski, Jacob Wolfe and David Lucroy all have a better ERA than Love’s 3.02 and all three have been vital in the Pirates’ 21-15 start.

When Godwin moved Love back into the rotation for the first game of the Tulane series on April 2, it forced Wolfe into a midweek starter role and reduced the already-depleted Pirate bullpen.

This week alone, ECU will play two midweek games against UNC-Wilmington and Old Dominion. With Wolfe and reliever/starter Jimmy Boyd slated to start the games, it leaves a major gap between the starter and closer. With four ECU relievers having an ERA north of 3.60, the Pirates will more than likely be hard pressed to find pitchers that can bridge the gap.

Despite garnering two straight weekend starts, Love still ranks third in the team with 11 relief appearances, behind only freshman Joe Ingle and Nick Durazo.

Finding a permanent home that both caters to Love’s ability and the team’s needs should be Godwin’s first priority, and with a shallow bullpen, the choice should become only clearer.