GREENVILLE — It was unfamiliar territory this time last year when East Carolina prepared for the trek to Florida for the Coral Gables NCAA baseball regional. It was the first time since 2011 that the Pirates were among the 64-team field in contention for a national championship.

The lack of experience caught up to them — as did a grueling season — when they were promptly sent packing. ECU lost to Columbia and Florida International to end its 2015 campaign.

That’s not the case here in 2016. All but two positional players — freshmen phenoms Dwanya Williams-Sutton and Turner Brown — were on last year’s regional squad. While many of them agree that the postseason journey is still accompanied by some excited jitters, the Pirates know that last year’s experience will pay off.

For those that haven’t been there, the American Athletic Conference tournament was a good, albeit short, introduction to the playoff atmosphere. The Pirates were swept out with consecutive losses in the tournament. The coaches and elder statesmen on the team are hopeful that the experience will help the team’s newcomers prepare for the regional.

“We talked about it before the conference tournament — just play like you have all year,” head coach Cliff Godwin said. “Turner and Dwanya handled the tournament well. Sam Lanier threw 4 1/3 scoreless and struck out six. Matt Bridges pitched well. The freshmen that got the opportunity to play in the conference tournament, I thought, handled it well.”

Pitching is an important aspect of what could be a grind for the Pirates should they do well in the regional. Lanier and Bridges stepping up as freshmen late in the season have helped round out the bullpen’s depth. In fact, Godwin said he’s been dabbling with the idea of Lanier starting a possible Game 4 if he hasn’t thrown much.

ECU will be competing as a No. 3 seed in the Charlottesville Regional hosted by Virginia. The Pirates have a minor advantage of sorts by being familiar with the setting. They took two of three against the Cavaliers back in late February.

“In a regional atmosphere, there probably won’t be a ton of fans for that first game,” Godwin said. “But, if you’re playing Virginia at some point, you’re going to be playing in a hostile environment.”

Team captains Garrett Brooks and Parker Lamm also compared the regional experience to some marquee games the Pirates have played this year. They said they’ve told the team’s freshmen to expect something like when they traveled to Virginia early in the season or when they clashed with in-state rivals like UNC and N.C. State.

Just as Lanier and Bridges helped round out the defense, Williams-Sutton and Brown have added a lot to the offense. The two rookies bat No. 3 and cleanup, respectively. ECU knows their offensive contributions will be important to making a run for Omaha.

“It’s just getting back to what we do — the Pirates’ way of playing baseball,” Lamm recalled about the conversations on the bus back from Florida after the conference tournament. “On the ride back, we were trying to forget about it. There was a lot of negativity.

“… (I told Williams-Sutton and Brown), ‘Just don’t worry about it. You may never get a chance to go to a regional again.’ I hope we do, but you never know what happens. Just keep playing like they’re playing, erase everything, have a great time and play baseball.”

A short memory is important in baseball, but so is a selective memory. The team may want to put the quick exit from the tournament behind them, but most of the younger players have made significant contributions lately. They’re going to want to remember that and build off of it.

“I just remember the good memories, no bad memories. We’ve got to keep pushing forward and make a run in this regional,” Williams-Sutton said.

Brown added, “It’s a lot of fun. We try and take it as it comes. (Williams-Sutton and I) talk all the time about our different approaches. It’s a lot of fun and we want to do our job.”