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BAILEY'S
TAKE ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the
Anchor Desk
Tuesday, February 26,
2013
By Brian
Bailey |
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Puzzle pieces coming
together
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Billy Godwin
(ECU Media Relations
photo) |
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By
Brian Bailey
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After opening the
season with a trio of losses, East Carolina bounced back to take the
unofficial championship of the Tenth Annual
Keith LeClair Classic.
The Pirates opened the
event with a win over Illinois and followed with victories over Boston
College and New Mexico State.
A relieved coach Billy
Godwin knows there is a season of baseball ahead. Still, he couldn�t
discount just how critical these three games were after the way his team
started the year.
�It all comes from
me,� said Godwin on Sunday after
the Pirates 5-1 victory over the Aggies.
�It comes from the top and I think if you ask anybody in that locker
room, there was no sense of panic. We knew we had a good club and we
knew we had to put some pieces together. We�ll continue to put pieces
together. It�s a puzzle out there and we�re still putting it together.
Godwin kept it simple
for his team.
�All we could do on
Thursday was be 1-3, he said. �And then all we could do Friday was be
2-3 and all we could do today was be 3-3. We just tried to keep guys
focused because you can�t win three games at once.�
The players agreed
that this was a huge weekend, especially for confidence.
�You know after
staring off 0-3 you always have to bounce back with a big win on
Thursday and that�s what we did," said senior Bryan Bass. � We tried to
take it one day at a time on the weekend. Coach is always preaching to
us, you know, take it one game at a time, and that�s exactly what we did
this weekend. I like that we came out with three wins this weekend.�
The same Pirate
bullpen that pretty much took East Carolina out of the first three games
of the season was pretty solid for the weekend. There are still slots to
be filled. Still, Godwin and his staff have to sleep better this week.
�It says a lot,� said
Godwin when asked about the difference in his pitching from last week to
this weekend. �I keep telling our guys defensively we�ve got a good club
and we�ve got a lot of confidence in (Drew) Reynolds and some of these
guys. If the guys will throw strikes up there were going to make plays
behind them.�
One of the guys who
was much better on the mound this weekend was closer Reynolds, who now
has to lead a very young and inexperienced pitching staff.
�It was a big deal,�
said Reynolds. �We knew coming in that it was going to be a learning
process early because of all the new guys that we have and all the guys
that we lost from last year. Once we got some guys in there and got
their feet wet and got some experience we knew they would be fine. We�ve
got plenty of guys that can get the job done. It was just a matter of
getting experience.�
Bass agreed.
�We�ve had great
pitching performance all weekend,� Bass said. �I can�t thank them
(pitching staff) enough for the great job they did this weekend. That�s
awesome that we went 3-0 on the weekend.�
The Pirates hope to
keep it going with a huge week this week.
Virginia Commonwealth
and Liberty provide the midweek competition, and then NCAA Super
Regional participant St. John�s comes to Greenville this coming weekend.
�Right now I�m just
trying to catch my breath,� said Godwin. �We�ve got five games this
week. We knew what our schedule was and we knew that we were going to
challenge these guys early. These midweek games are so important and
they�re against good clubs.�
The simple approach
certainly worked this past weekend. Godwin says he�ll try the same with
this five-game stretch.
�What I�ve really done
is just try to keep it simple for them and just tell them to focus on
Tuesday night and we approach this thing one game at a time," said
Godwin. "It may be �coachspeak� but I think that it�s best not to look
too far ahead.�
The baseball season
always has its ups and downs. This year the downs came early.
Godwin and the Pirates
hope the �ups� continue for another big week.
BB
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Brian Bailey Archives
02/25/2013 09:11 PM |
Replay
Monday night's BRIAN BAILEY SHOW.
Brian's guests were ECU women's basketball
coach Heather Macy (below left)
and
volleyball coach Julie Torbett (below
right). Eastern North
Carolina's longest running
sports radio call-in show airs each Monday
night from 6:30-7:30 on Pirate Radio 1250 and
930.