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BAILEY'S
TAKE ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the
Anchor Desk
Tuesday,
January 24, 2012
By Brian
Bailey |
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First signs of
baseball season are here
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BRAIN BAILEY SHOW |
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 Replay
Monday night's BRIAN BAILEY SHOW,
featuring a preview of the Pitt-Greenville
Hot Stove League Banquet with Chuck
Humphrey, Ronald Vincent and
Clay Medlin. Eastern North Carolina's longest running
sports radio call-in show airs each Monday
night at 7 p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250 and
930. |
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One-on-One
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(ECU SID File Photos) |
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Bonesville features writer Ron Cherubini
conducted one-on-one interviews with East Carolina
offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley (left) and
Pirate defensive boss Brian Mitchell (right).
Links to the wide-ranging Q&A sessions: |
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Lincoln Riley Q&A |
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Brian Mitchell Q&A |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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Mobile Alpha version of this page.
It’s hard to believe that
baseball practice begins this week at East Carolina. The road to Omaha
starts at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Feb. 17th.
ECU coach Billy
Godwin has a busy slate leading up to that date.
Godwin opened this week by
speaking at the Wilson Hot Stove League Banquet. He was on a coaches
panel that included Josh Simmons of Barton College, Carl Lancaster of
Mount Olive, and Mike Fox of UNC-Chapel Hill.
Each coach had a topic to
speak on in the roundtable format. Godwin spoke on NCAA regulations.
On Wednesday, Godwin and
the Pirates will host the team’s annual media day. It’s a chance for
area media to sit down with the coach, his staff and the players to
preview the upcoming baseball season.
Godwin is the headline
speaker at Thursday’s Pitt-Greenville Hot Stove Banquet at J.H. Rose
High School. It’s the 23rd annual banquet which honors the year’s best
amateur player, volunteer coach, individual contributor and corporate
contributor.
The Pitt-Greenville Hot
Stove banquet is always a great time. It’s a night of baseball and
barbeque, and this year it will have a Pirate theme with Godwin as the
guest speaker.
I have been fortunate to
emcee 21 of the 23 Pitt-Greenville Hot Stove Banquets. One year the
event was cancelled for snow, and one year I had to miss to cover the
Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
The busy week continues
with Friday’s first baseball practice at East Carolina. The weather is
expected to be warm with a high near 70 degrees with a chance of
thunderstorms.
Godwin and his Pirates
will see all aspects of weather over the next couple of months, but at
least the team will apparently get off to a warm start.
Then on Saturday, it’s one
of the true annual highlights of the baseball season. Coach Godwin and
the team host the 12th annual “Meet the Pirates” luncheon at the Murphy
Center at Harvey Hall.
“Meet the Pirates”
features a catered lunch and gives fans the chance to mingle with and
get autographs from the Pirate players and coaches.
The highlight of the
luncheon is the announcement of which Pirate player will wear the No. 23
jersey to honor late ECU Head Coach Keith LeClair.
After lunch, Pirate fans
are invited out for a scrimmage game that afternoon.
Just to get you ready for
this week’s start of practice, here are some stats associated with this
year’s team:
• The Pirates lost 71.7
percent of the team’s innings pitched from last season. ECU returns only
8 of their 41 wins from a year ago, and 7 of those come from Kevin
Brandt. The Pirates have an arsenal of talented arms to replace what
they have lost, but those arms are unproven to start the year.
•On the other side, 13 of
the Pirate’s top 16 positional players return, which includes 81 percent
of the offense from a year ago. That includes 542 hits, 281 runs, 271
RBI and 32 home runs.
The Pirates open the 2012
season at home on Friday, Feb. 17th, hosting Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
It won’t be long now
before we hear that first, “Play Ball!”
[View
East Carolina's 2012 baseball schedule from ECU Media Relations in a new
window.]
BB
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01/24/2012 02:16 AM |
