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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, February 24, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Great start, great
week ahead
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
We learned a lot about
this 2009 East Carolina
baseball team this past
weekend. We’re sure to
learn a bunch more this
weekend.
The Pirates got off to a
great start sweeping
2008 NCAA regional
participant Monmouth in
a three-game series.
The National Collegiate
Baseball Writers
Association poll took
notice, ranking East
Carolina No. 23 this
week. The Pirates were
also pegged at 29th by
Ping Baseball, but were
not ranked Collegiate
Baseball or Baseball
America.
The Pirates started the
season red hot, posting
a five spot on the Hawks
in the bottom of the
first inning in the
season opener. The big
blow was a Kyle Roller
three-run triple that
just missed being a
grand slam. East
Carolina poured on the
offense in
the 13-4 win.
That was all that Seth
Maness needed in game
one. As Coach Billy
Godwin put it, “Maness
was Maness.”
Seth was certainly as
good as advertised in
his 2009 debut,
scattering five hits
over seven innings with
one earned run and six
strikeouts. He is now
10-2 in his one year and
one game career.
Game two featured the
debut of Saturday
starter Chris Heston.
The junior college
transfer picked up his
first win as a Pirate
after working seven
innings, allowing two
hits, one earned run,
and striking out nine
with no walks. His stats
were most impressive,
holding the Hawks' bats
to an .095 average
(2-21) in the game.
Drew Schieber hit a
two-run home run as the
Pirates
beat Monmouth 5-1.
In game three, the East
Carolina hitters came to
life late, blowing open
a close game behind
Stephen Batts. Batts was
9-14 for the weekend. He
established a
career-high for hits in
a game with four in the
first game of the
series. He then came
back and hit that mark
again in game three,
driving in a pair in
the Pirates 9-2
victory.
Batts leads the Pirates
with a .643 batting
average.
Perhaps most impressive
about the sweep was the
overall way the team
played. This looked more
like one of those
mid-season series, when
you’re fine-tuning
everything for league
play. East Carolina was
in midseason form from
the first pitch on that
Friday afternoon.
Godwin reflected on
Sunday after the series
sweep.
“I thought our pitching
was good all weekend,”
he said. “I thought we
played great defense.
And today we got timely
hits and busted the game
open.”
That’s good news,
because this week brings
with it an NCAA regional
type of series. We’ll
see four days of East
Carolina baseball, with
two of those games
coming against
12th-ranked Oklahoma
State.
The Pirates and Cowboys
will play a single game
on Thursday, just before
the start of the 6th
annual Keith LeClair
Classic.
Oklahoma State will
bring a rich baseball
history to Greenville.
The 1959 National
Champions have made 19
total trips to the
College Baseball World
Series. The Cowboys also
have 30 conference
titles in baseball.
East Carolina will open
the LeClair Classic
against the Red Storm of
St. John’s on Friday.
The Storm spent this
past weekend in Florida
playing in the Big
East-Big Ten Challenge.
St. John’s beat Penn
State and Iowa in the
event, but lost to
Michigan.
The Pirates then meet
Oklahoma State again on
Saturday in the LeClair
Classic before closing
things out on Sunday
with the College of
Charleston.
The Cougars swept a
three-game series from
Miami of Ohio this past
weekend. The College of
Charleston will play UNC-Wilmington
today at 4 p.m. before
heading to Greenville to
meet Oklahoma State to
open the LeClair Classic
on Friday at 1 p.m.
East Carolina will throw
sophomore Sthil Sowers
against the Cowboys on
Thursday night. The
Pirates will then use
their rotation from this
past weekend for the
LeClair Classic, with
Seth Maness going on
Friday against St.
John’s.
Chris Heston could match
up with Oklahoma State
All-American Andrew
Oliver on Saturday. Mike
Anderson will make the
Sunday start against
College of Charleston.
It’s certainly an
outstanding field for
what should be some
great early-season
baseball.
Hopefully the weather
will cooperate. The
early forecast is for
60-degree temperatures
for Thursday and Friday,
with Saturday and Sunday
about 10 degrees cooler.
There is a chance of
scattered showers on
both Friday and
Saturday. The best
chance for rain is late
Friday night. Of course,
it’s early in the week
and we all know that can
change.
The LeClair Classic is
more then just a great
baseball tournament. It
reminds us all just what
No. 23 means to East
Carolina University. And
to think, the Pirates
are 23rd this week.
BB
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02/24/2009 02:31:19 AM |
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