|
|
|
|
BASEBALL |
Pirates take chip into USF
matchup |
The
East Carolina baseball team is in
Clearwater, Florida, for the
American Athletic Conference
tournament, hoping to go back to
back at the beach. ECU won the
league championship a year ago and
enters this year's tournament as the
number two seed.
...
More from
Brian Bailey...
|
|
|
|
|
FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
Pirates land a center with
pedigree |
You could call John Spellacy a
product of tradition. He's part of a
prestigious Cleveland, Ohio-area
family that has a long history of
public service. Like the majority of
males in his family, John attends
St. Ignatius High School
...
More from
Sammy Batten... |
|
|
|
|
BASEBALL |
Pirates take series at UCF, 7-1 |
ORLANDO
— Jimmy Boyd pitched seven innings
and freshman Matt Bridges added two
scoreless innings of relief as East
Carolina clinched its American
Athletic Conference series at
Central Florida with a 7-1 win
Friday.
...
More... |
|
|
|
BASKETBALL RECRUITING |
Hawaii guard moving back East |
East
Carolina coach Jeff Lebo has
received a verbal commitment
from Delaware product Isaac
Fleming, a 6-3 guard with
3-point shooting skills who
logged significant playing time
and averaged more than 9 points
per game over the last two
seasons at Hawaii. ...
Recruiting class of 2016-17
thumbnails... |
|
|
|
|
BASEBALL |
Pirates take opener at UCF |
ORLANDO
— East Carolina scored two runs on
two Central Florida errors and the
Pirates never trailed in a 5-3
American Athletic Conference win
Thursday. The game started at 11
a.m. and today's game is scheduled
to get under way at 11 this morning
as well to avoid potential rain
later in the day.
...
More... |
|
|
|
BASEBALL |
Senior recognition adjusted |
East
Carolina's baseball seniors were
scheduled to be recognized when
the Pirates hosted Campbell on
Tuesday night but that game was
rained out. ECU's upperclassmen
still had their Senior Night
under modified circumstances.
...
More from Al Myatt...
|
|
|
|
BASEBALL |
Campbell-ECU game canceled |
East
Carolina's nonconference home
baseball game with Campbell on
Tuesday night was canceled due to
rain and was not scheduled to be
made up. The Pirates, 31-19-1
overall and 12-8-1 in the American
Athletic Conference, return to
action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at
Central Florida
...
More... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
By
Al Myatt
©2016 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
East Carolina goes into
the American Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Bright House
Field in Clearwater, Fl, with a three-game winning streak despite a
scare in the bottom of the ninth inning of
an 8-7 squeaker at Central Florida
on Saturday.
The Pirates had an 8-1
lead with the Knights down to their last three outs.
Eli Putnam led off UCF's
half of the ninth with a home run off Joe Ingle to set the tone for
the comeback.
Two outs and five runs
later, Ingle was faced with a bases-loaded situation and a 2-2 count
on Sam Tolleson.
Ingle got Tolleson, a
senior hoping to be a hero on UCF's Senior Day, for a swinging
strikeout to end the game. It was the 55th pitch of the inning for
ECU's sophomore right-hander, who has 20 career saves.
Despite his struggles,
East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin and Pirates pitching coach Dan
Roszel stuck with Ingle.
"What we were thinking
is he's our guy," Godwin said. "If we're going to lose, we're going
to lose with our guy on the mound. You know what? It worked out well
for us because at the end of the day, he's our closer. It wasn't a
close situation but it became a close situation. He made the pitch
when he had to."
Pirates perform in
clutch situation
All three of the games
at UCF were important for ECU in terms of having a chance for the
AAC regular season championship, depending on how Tulane fared at
Houston.
The Green Wave (37-17,
15-7 AAC) won two of three from the Cougars to hold off the Pirates
(34-19-1, 15-8-1) for the regular season AAC title.
"We played well this
weekend," Godwin said. "UCF has got some good weekend pitching,
especially the first two guys. (Cre) Finfrock is not himself right
now so Saturday was a little bit different but their first two guys
have pitched really well in conference. For our guys to be able to
have tough at-bats and scratch runs and do all those things was
great. (Evan) Kruczynski and Jimmy Boyd were phenomenal."
Wolfe struggles
Jacob Wolfe has lacked
his usual effectiveness in his last two starts. Wolfe went three and
one-third innings Saturday, his shortest stint of the season.
"That's just the last
two outings," Godwin said. "At UConn, he's the conference pitcher of
the week. He's just hit a little rough spot. We'll work with him.
He'll get better. He'll get back to form for the tournament."
Kruczynski will start
ECU's opener against South Florida (23-31, 8-16) in the league
tournament at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
"Kruczynski is going to
go day one and then we're going to go day by day," Godwin said.
Bulls played better
The Bulls
topped ECU two out of three
in Greenville on May 13-15.
"I don't think we took
them lightly in Greenville," Godwin said. "They just played better
than us. We'll be ready. It's the postseason. Our guys are excited.
They're ready to go. It's postseason play and every game matters.
We'll go from there."
Pre-tournament
activities
There was a banquet
Monday night for the teams, followed by a coaches meeting.
Conference awards were announced Monday. Kruczynski and freshman
Dwanya Williams-Sutton were first team all-conference selections for
the Pirates. ECU catcher Travis Watkins made the second team in
voting by the league coaches.
The Pirates practiced
Monday morning.
"A light practice and
the guys had some down time later on," Godwin said.
ECU was scheduled for a
brief workout at Bright House Field on Tuesday.
"You get 15 minutes to
take infield and outfield but you can't take batting practice on the
game field," Godwin said.
The Pirates utilized an
auxiliary field for batting practice Monday and Tuesday.
ECU in good place
A sweep of the
three-game series at UCF has the Pirates in a good frame of mind.
ECU
won the AAC Tournament in 2015
at the same locale.
"I don't know how we
could be in a better place," Godwin said. "We won three in a row on
the road. I know there's a lot of good memories from last year. Half
our team won a conference tournament championship, which doesn't
mean a ton but it does mean something.
"Last year, our hotel
was new. Just the landscape of everything as far as getting to the
field, taking BP. All that stuff was new to everybody, including
myself. This year, we know what to expect. That doesn't allow you to
win more games but it allows you to feel more comfortable going
through it."
Another morning start
The Pirates also got
tuned in to starting games at 11 a.m. at UCF. All three games with
the Knights were moved up due to the threat of rain later in the
day. ECU still had some rain delays to deal with in Orlando.
Early to rise has become
a way of life for the Pirates on game day.
"I guess we can thank
the weather for getting us ready for 11 a.m. games," Godwin said. "I
think our first game in the tournament last year was at 11 a.m. as
well."
Williams-Sutton has
progressed rapidly
Williams-Sutton led the
AAC in hitting this season with a .372 average.
"Dwanya has been
phenomenal," Godwin said. "I don't know if any of us could have
thought back in the fall, going through fall practice, he would have
this kind of year but he's matured a whole lot. I mean he shows up
to play every single day. In the fall, he was learning how to do
that. He's learned how to play through some bumps and bruises when
his body's not feeling 100 percent. That was probably his biggest
challenge in the fall ... just because he had never had to do that
before.
"He's very quiet, very
humble, probably too humble at times. He doesn't know how good he
can be but our guys have a lot of confidence in him and he's fun to
watch the way he's been playing, especially the past few weeks."
Williams-Sutton went
4-for-4 on Saturday at UCF with a home run and a double, scoring
twice.