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Audio: Brian Bailey
Show |
 The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on
 Mondays at 6:30
p.m. Brian's guest
this week was
Fayetteville
Observer and
Bonesville
recruiting analyst
Sammy Batten
(right):
Replay
show... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates close out
Cincinnati |
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 GREENVILLE —
East Carolina scored the
last 11 points of Sunday's
American Athletic Conference
contest with Cincinnati in
Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum for a 50-46 win.
Freshman
B.J. Tyson led ECU with 18
points as the Pirates halted
a three-game losing streak
with their first triumph in
nine tries against
Cincinnati. ...
Story & photos... |
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Pictured: Freshman
guard B.J. Tyson
scores on an
aggressive drive in
the second half of
ECU's upset win over
visiting Cincinnati
on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by W.A.
Myatt.) |
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BASEBALL |
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Homegrown Pirate toured the
bases |
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 Players
begin at home plate
offensively in baseball and
the objective is to get
around the bases. The goal
is to get back home and that
describes the journey of
Cliff Godwin, East
Carolina's first-year
baseball coach ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Memphis holds off ECU rally |
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MEMPHIS — East Carolina fell
behind 24-9 in its American
Athletic Conference contest
at Memphis on Wednesday
night and absorbed a 70-58
loss after pulling within
62-58 with 3:50 remaining.
The Pirates were 13 for 27
behind the 3-point arc (48.1
percent) in falling to 8-12
overall and 1-6 in league
play. ...
More... |
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Next: ECU vs.
Cincinnati | Sunday,
1 pm
| TV: CBSSN |
The Season
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BASKETBALL |
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On the cusp of the winning
formula |
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 Jeff
Lebo's teams always play their best
basketball at the end of the season.
Perhaps we saw a glimpse of that on
Saturday. Tulsa came to town and got
all it wanted from East Carolina
before slipping out of town with a
66-64 win. ...
More
from Brian Bailey... |
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Audio: Brian Bailey
Show |
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The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. Brian's
topic this week was
baseball and his
guests were Rose
High coach Ronald
Vincent, Babe Ruth
League president
Clay Medlin and Hot
Stove League
president Chuck
Humphrey:
Replay
show... |
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates close with win |
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It
was good to see Shane Carden
smile at the end of the
Senior Bowl on the NFL
Channel on Saturday. It was
a good memory to close his
college career. The East
Carolina quarterback took a
knee in the final seconds of
a 34-13 win for the North
team. ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
The famed No. 23 is back in the dugout at East Carolina.
First-year Pirate coach Cliff Godwin, who played under Keith LeClair
during some of ECU's best baseball seasons, will wear his former coach's
number in 2015.
It was my honor and privilege to serve as emcee for the first ever
"Evening with the Pirates" dinner. In doing so I got to be a part of
what is always such a special event for the school's baseball program.
Keith's wife, Lynn LeClair, whom I have often described as an angel
walking on earth, was back in town to make the presentation. With Lynn's
blessing Cliff vowed to wear the jersey until he gets the program to
Omaha, when the jersey will then be retired permanently on the outfield
wall at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Lynn thought that perhaps Cliff would have wanted to keep his 16 jersey
that he wore as a player. After all, Cliff is the 16th head coach in ECU
baseball history. She joked that Cliff could have promised to get the
Pirates to Omaha in 2016.
Story continues below the following
picture...
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| One of the highlights
of "Evening with the Pirates" was when Lynn LeClair, the
widow of former ECU coach Keith LeClair, spoke to the
audience about her late husband's life and values and
his love of baseball. (Photo courtesy of WNCT-TV) |
That may be a tall order, but Keith LeClair's vision for East Carolina
is now the vision of Cliff Godwin.
"I'm extremely honored that Lynn and her family have asked me to wear
No. 23 this year in honor of Coach LeClair," Godwin said. "The number
isn't about me, it's about the man who stood at third base while I was
playing at East Carolina and it's about this program. I will be
following in his footsteps giving signs at third base this year and
years to come."
There was once talk of retiring the number early on, but then came the
idea of honoring a Pirate player that displayed the hustle,
determination and desire that Keith LeClair had as both a player and
coach.
Former Pirate coach Billy Godwin did a great job in honoring LeClair
each season and made sure his players knew the significance of the
number 23 at East Carolina.
It was the highest honor in the ECU baseball program.
The 11 players that wore the number 23 as a testament to LeClair's
impact on the program's horizons were a basic who's who of Pirate
baseball. Austin Homan wore the jersey two consecutive years. The first
couple of No. 23 award winners played under Coach LeClair. They were Ben
Sanderson, who came back to coach at ECU, Jamie Paige, and Brian
Cavanaugh.
Other 23s included Adam Witter, Chris Powell, Drew Schieber, Brandon
Henderson, Timmy Younger, Jay Cannon and Ryan Williams.
It was truly a night to remember and one that hopefully we'll all
reminisce about when we are all sitting in Omaha one day down the road.
Jimmie Grimsley
The East Carolina family
lost a good one with the untimely death of Dr. Jimmie Grimsley last
week.
Grimsley died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 70.
"Dr. G" wore many hats. I worked with him for 25 years with the
Pitt-Greenville Hot Stove League banquet, which has always been a first
class event, thanks in part to Jimmie Grimsley.
(Jimmy
Grimsley image source: ecu.edu)
Grimsley was also a master of the baseball rulebook and loved to throw
out a rules 'stumper' from time to time.
The thing I'll miss most is slipping down the third base line in the
stands at Clark-LeClair and catching an inning or two with Dr. G, Randy
Phillips and anyone else hanging out by third base, regardless of the
weather.
We postponed this year's Pitt-Greenville Hot Stove banquet after news
came of Grimsley's death. He would have wanted us to go on with the
event, but that event is a celebration of baseball in our area, and that
night simply wasn't a night to celebrate.
The Pitt-Greenville Hot Stove banquet is now set for February 19th at
Harvey Hall at ECU.
We'll leave a place for Jimmie Grimsley because we all know he'll be
watching over it.
BB
View ECU's
2014 basketball schedule
