Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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Pirates charge ahead toward
big stakes
©2004 Bonesville.net
East Carolina coach Randy Mazey probably never expected a shutout last
night.
But if you think about it, he probably didn’t expect to have his team
ranked among the nation’s top five, either.
That’s the story of this baseball team.
Expectations continue to grow. A trip to Omaha used to be a dream. Now I
think it’s on that list of expectations.
Last week UNC Wilmington rolled into town and crashed the Harrington
Field going away party. The Seahawks ended the Pirate winning streak at 19
in a row.
Last night East Carolina returned the favor, shutting out the ‘Hawks 3-0.
Now, it’s on to tonight's second game of the home and home with North
Carolina State. The game is a sellout at historic Grainger Stadium.
The Pirates have saved the most difficult segment of their schedule for
now.
“This is a tough stretch,” said Mazey. “We’ve got five games in six days
that will certainly test our pitching staff.”
Mazey knows that fans love wins over the likes of UNC Wilmington and
especially North Carolina State.
But with a Conference USA series against Texas Christian looming in the
shadows, he also knows which games are most important.
“As important as these two games are Tuesday and Wednesday, this weekend
we have TCU and those games will dictate how we finish in the league," Mazey
explained. "We have to be careful how we pitch these two games. We certainly
don’t want to spend our top guys and not have them for the weekend."
Mazey really seems to be at ease, even with everyone else caught up in
rankings, regional possibilities, and the goal of ‘goin to Omaha.
He really wants to wrap up the league's regular season championship just
as soon as possible.
“C-USA is a really good conference which sends four or five teams to the
NCAA tournament each year,” said Mazey. “To win this league would be really
something and we control our own destiny. We have an opportunity to win the
regular season if we finish the season well. Just to have a chance to win
the Conference USA title is a credit to the kids and how they played this
year.”
In the meantime, though, next up is N.C. State. I had a chance to see the
game between the Pirates and the Wolfpack in Raleigh. It was an extremely
well played game. If the two teams equal that outing tomorrow night, then
the fans at Grainger are in for a real treat.
Terrific Tracy travels east
Former Pirate Chad Tracy hit his second home run of the season on Monday
night. The former Pirate continues to impress with the bat.
Just in case you’re thinking about trying to see Tracy in action with the
Diamondbacks, you’ve got a couple of chances coming up.
The Diamondbacks visit Atlanta next week, playing the Braves May
18th-20th.
Tracy will play even closer to home in June. The Diamondbacks visit
Baltimore June 8th-10th.
Just in case you’re making a west coast trip, Tracy and the Diamondbacks
host the New York Yankees on June 15th-17th.
I wonder if Chad ever dreamed about playing 3rd base opposite Alex
Rodriguez. Probably not, since A-Rod wasn’t even thinking about 3rd base
until this past off-season.
Still, it’s got to be a dream come true, to play opposite A-Rod, Jeter,
Giambi and the pinstripes in a Major League game.
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02/23/2007 01:29:20 AM |