With injury behind him, Jacob Jenkins-Cowart carries new mindset into junior year at ECU

As a true freshman in 2022, outfielder Jacob Jenkins-Cowart immediately became a big part of ECU’s success. He hit .330 in 64 games with 13 home runs and 65 RBI, earning freshman All-American honors.

Jenkins-Cowart’s sophomore campaign in 2023 was not a bad one by any means, but his production did see a slight dip, which can partly be attributed to a gruesome injury he suffered nearly halfway through the year.

In early April, Jenkins-Cowart enjoyed a monstrous game against NC State, where he clubbed three home runs as part of a 3-for-5 day, driving in 5 runs during ECU’s 13-9 victory. Two days later, ECU played in a doubleheader against UCF, and in the second game, Jenkins-Cowart fouled a ball off of himself, which led to him being removed from the game.

He was able to return just over two weeks later at Wichita State, but the impact of the injury was long-lasting through the season.

“I knew that was going to be a popular question,” Jenkins-Cowart said at ECU baseball media day on Monday. “Obviously, pretty painful. But the impact was kind of just longer lasting than I wanted it to be. I played through some soreness for sure. But once I came back here in the summer, put a lot of weight back on, I got healthy and now I’m feeling better than ever.”

After returning from injury, Jenkins-Cowart primarily served as ECU’s designated hitter, but he later did return to the outfield. He hit just one home run after returning to the field, coming in his seventh game back in a contest against Tulane.

“I think it definitely impacted him, more than he probably let me know at the time,” ECU head coach Cliff Godwin said. “I think he played at times worried about getting hurt again. Which, you can’t play the game like that.”

Jenkins-Cowart has a fresh mindset as ECU prepares for 2024 season

In the end, Jenkins-Cowart finished his sophomore season hitting .294 with nine home runs and 45 RBI. His slugging percentage was .491, down from .549 as a freshman.

While those aren’t bad numbers at all, they weren’t quite at the level that many penciled him in for heading into his sophomore year. Jenkins-Cowart admitted on Monday that he listened to the hype surrounding him going into 2023, and that might have resulted in him letting off the gas.

“I’d say going into last year, there was a lot more hype around my name,” said Jenkins-Cowart. “And I kind of listened to what all you guys say, no offense, but people were telling me how good I was and I kind of let off the gas a little bit. This year, I realized it’s a lot bigger than me. Obviously I’m worried about how I play, but the bigger picture is more important for me this year.”

That shift in mindset is something that Godwin has noticed. ECU lost a few veteran leaders off of last year’s team, and Jenkins-Cowart is a player that has stepped up into that role as ECU prepares for a new season. And now he is healthy again, which will only help both he and his team.

“It’s not like he had a terrible season, it just was a little bit less than what his freshman year was,” Godwin said of Jenkins-Cowart. “Plus he had expectations. When you’re a freshman and nobody really talks about you and you have a really good season, you’re a freshman All-American, well now there’s scouting reports out and people know who you are. I felt like media made him the face of the program because of his great personality. I think he battled all this stuff at times.

“He has really worked hard on his leadership ability. He’s worked hard on staying healthy. He’s bigger than he was last year, but he’s running just as good and he feels better. But really, he’s most concerned with what our team is doing. And when you can get a really good player to do that, which there’s a lot of good players that are worried about their teammates more than themselves, then you’ve got something special. I believe that we have something special this year.”

ECU has made a regional five years in a row, with four of those being with the Pirates hosting. Last year, they fell short in the Charlottesville Regional against Virginia. If ECU is to make another postseason run this season and finally punch their ticket to Omaha, Jenkins-Cowart will surely be a big part of it.