GREENVILLE — The East Carolina baseball program got back to its winning ways last season with an American Athletic Conference championship and a regional berth under first-year head coach Cliff Godwin. The Pirates, headed into the 2016 season, are hungry for more.

At ECU’s first meeting with the media Monday afternoon, player after player rattled off the team’s goals for the season: win 40 games, win (another) conference championship, host a regional, host a super regional and make it to Omaha for the College Baseball World Series.

Godwin said his team has started taking the right steps in fall practice and has seen the energy and focus early on from his club.

“Really, the past week has been the best individual workouts that I’ve ever been associated with,” Godwin said. “You’re always a little worried with the early morning workouts, are you really going to get out what you need to get out of them there. But our guys have been really focused and really on edge to get out there and compete against each other.”

Last season, ECU won 40 games and reached the Coral Gables Regional before losing its first two games in the tournament. However, Godwin and company lost just four regularly active players off the roster in Hunter Allen, Reid Love, David Lucroy and Luke Lowery.

Despite losing two high-level pitchers in Love and Lucroy, Godwin said the depth on the mound this year should be stronger than last season’s.

“Last year at this time, you were like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we’re going to have enough pitchers to finish five games,’” Godwin said. “But this year, with all these newcomers, they’ve provided some depth on the mound.”

While the top of the rotation (Evan Kruczynski and Jacob Wolfe) and the closer role (Joe Ingle) are set, the third weekend spot in the rotation and the rest of the relief roles are up for grabs, according to Godwin. A major contender for innings this year will be Davis Kirkpatrick, who suffered an arm injury last year and missed the season. Kirkpatrick will begin throwing to live batters this week for the first time in a year.

Wolfe and Kruczynski each had their first full seasons pitching last year after logging a combined eight innings as true freshmen. The duo started weekends as sophomores and each threw over 85 innings. Wolfe said his confidence has been the biggest difference thanks in part to his innings spike

“To be honest, it was just confidence,” Wolfe said. “Confidence in myself and the coaching staff was a big part of that. (Pitching) Coach Dan Rozel, coach Godwin, they gave me confidence in myself and I was just able to relate that to the mound.”

Perhaps the biggest benefit to the pitching staff is the man behind the plate. Redshirt junior Travis Watkins was again in the running for the Johnny Bench Award as college baseball’s top catcher.

The veteran caught nearly every game last season and will be the go-to man again. The pitching staff’s comfort and confidence in Watkins leaves little doubt after each pitch.

“He caught every one of my starts last year and, I mean, he’s just unbelievable,” Kruczynski said. “Even his hitting now is unbelievable. I’m always sure that we’re going to put up some runs on the board, but even having a catcher back there to block every pitch and trust that if I throw something in the dirt, he’s going to get to it.”

The Pirates start practice this week and will be building up to their season opener, just three weeks away, against Longwood Feb. 19.