Former Pinecrest star Seth Maness has been named the probable starting pitcher for East Carolina on Saturday's second day of the NCAA Greenville Regional baseball tournament.

The Road to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series begins for the Pirates (42-17) with a 7 p.m. contest tonight against Binghamton (29-20) at Clark LeClair Field. Depending on the outcome, Maness will pitch against either South Carolina (38-21) or George Mason (42-12) in a winners (6 p.m.) or losers bracket (2 p.m.) contest on Saturday.

East Carolina was selected to be one of 16 regional hosts for the 64-team event.

The survivor of double-elimination play that concludes on a Sunday or Monday in Greenville advances to one of eight Super Regionals (best of three series) as the last step to the main event in Omaha, running June 13-24.

If both ECU and UNC win their regionals, they will face each other in one of the Super Regionals.

Maness compiled a record of 9-1 in helping East Carolina win the Conference USA regular season title. The sophomore right-hander suffered his first loss last week in a C-USA tournament game against Southern Mississippi. Rice went on to grab the tournament title.

In three varsity seasons at Pinecrest, Maness compiled a record of 21-2. He is 18-3 in two years at East Carolina.