Pirates' backs against the wall

By Brian Bailey
©2014 Bonesville.net
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The Diamond Pirates are limping to the finish line. East Carolina has lost five of its last six in Conference USA, following up the lost weekend against Florida International by losing two out of three at Southern Miss.

ECU returns home for its final four games, hosting High Point tonight and then Texas-San Antonio for the last league series of the season.

There is a scenario that East Carolina wouldn’t make the Conference USA tournament field. Only the league’s top eight teams play in their post season event. However, the Pirates do have the tiebreakers over both Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee which will certainly help.

Somehow, the Pirates have to find some momentum going into the C-USA tournament. Then they will have to play well and win the league championship in order to make it into the NCAA tournament field.

Pirates to host ECBL

On a much brighter note, East Carolina will host its annual exhibition game with the Exceptional Community Baseball League this coming weekend.

The ECBL is a baseball league for children and adults with special needs.

“It’s always one of the highlights of our season,” said head coach Billy Godwin on a number of occasions. “Our guys really enjoy the afternoon and it’s good for them to see just how fortunate they are.”

The ECBL exhibition begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

ECU women’s golf finishes 14th in NCAA regional

I had a chance to visit with East Carolina Women’s golf coach Kevin Williams on my weekly radio show on Monday night on Pirate Radio 1250 and 930.

Coach Williams is a long time friend who has had great success with the women’s program at ECU.

“We had a great year,” said Williams.

The Pirates were 118-50-1 and finished 14th in the recent NCAA East Regional held at the SouthWood Golf Club in Tallahassee, FL.

Williams’ team had to finish 8th or better in that regional to advance to the NCAA championship tournament.

The squad was 18th after the first round, but rallied and stood in 8th place with five holes to play. Conditions were tough and the Pirates fell to 14th for the regional.

Still, East Carolina finished better than several ranked teams, including (17) Central Florida, (24) Auburn, (48) Georgia, (31) Kentucky and (38) Louisville. The Pirates also beat future American Athletic Conference rival UCF earlier in the year.

“I was just really proud of the way we battled back,” Williams said. “All you can ever ask is to have a chance, and we had a chance.”

Williams loses just one senior and says the future is very bright for his program.

BB

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