The East Carolina baseball team headed to the West Coast this week riding a serious wave of momentum.

If ECU head coach Billy Godwin has his say, that will be the only wave the Pirates — ranked as high as No. 10 nationally this week — will ride while they’re in California for the week.

Tonight, the 7-3 Pirates will take on Cal State Northridge at 5 p.m. EST for the first time in program history, and will then make the 30-mile trek to Malibu to play a weekend set at Pepperdine.

“I’m warning our guys that it’s a business trip,” Godwin said of the team’s first West Coast swing since an 0-3 trip to UCLA in 2007. “It’s nice to talk about going out there to Pepperdine and Malibu, but there aren’t any beach trips on our itinerary, I can tell you that.

“We’re looking forward to good weather, playing some good teams and giving our program some exposure on the West Coast. I think that’s awesome.”

ECU is seeking its sixth consecutive victory, having beaten South Carolina in the final two games of a three-game series two weekends ago and then sweeping through the Keith LeClair Classic last weekend, including wins over Illinois, West Virginia and Western Carolina.

Junior shortstop Dustin Harrington is red hot for ECU, leading the team with his .415 batting average, 17 hits, five doubles and a .610 slugging percentage.

Behind him, a trio of first-year starting infielders are all contributing. Second baseman Cameron Freeman (.400, 14 H, seven RBIs), third baseman Corey Thompson (.314, 11 H, nine RBIs) and first baseman John Wooten (.324, 11 H, nine RBIs) have all played a role in the team’s strong start.

The Matadors (5-5) bounced back to beat Connecticut last Sunday and salvage one game of a four-game series. Prior to that, Northridge had beaten Pepperdine twice with walk-off hits and also topped San Diego and Bethune-Cookman. They dropped games against UCLA and Southern.

Justin DeMarco leads CSUN with a .423 batting average, while Ryan Pineda is clicking at .395 with a team-best 17 hits, three home runs and 13 RBIs. Dominic D’Anna has a team-best four doubles to go with eight RBIs.

The Matadors’ starting pitchers have accounted for only one win so far this season.

The Pirates beat Pepperdine (4-7) in the only previous meeting in 2007, a 5-4 ECU win in Greenville.

ECU’s first foray into playing California teams happened in 1963, when the Pirates took down Cal State Western. Forty-three years passed between that auspicious start and the Pirates’ next game against a California team in 2006, and there have been mixed results for ECU against a couple of better-known opponents since. The Pirates have gone 3-3 against perennial power Cal State Fullerton and have posted a less dazzling 1-5 mark against UCLA in a pair of recent three-game sets.

Contact Nathan Summers at nsummers@reflector.com or (252)329-9595.