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BAILEY'S
TAKE ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the
Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 5,
2013
By Brian
Bailey |
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Weekend mound
rotation emerges
By
Brian Bailey
©2013 Bonesville.net
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This was certainly not
the St. John's club that the Pirates have seen in the postseason the
last two years. Still, this weekend’s East Carolina sweep of the Red
Storm provided what Coach Billy Godwin hopes is a glimpse of some
outstanding starting pitching on the weekends.
It sounds like a law
firm.
Hoffman, Williams &
Lucroy certainly got the job done as the Pirates held back the Storm
back-to-back-to-back.
ECU took the three
games behind the solid mound performances of Jeff Hoffman, Ryan Williams
and David Lucroy by scores of
6-3,
8-1 and
7-3, respectively.
The trio combined for
an impressive 21 1/3 innings of work, giving up just five earned runs on
17 hits. The starters also combined for 11 strikeouts and issued just
six walks.
Coming off
that 14-4 loss to Liberty on
Wednesday — when the pitching really struggled — the Pirate starters
left no doubt in the series.
“Wins are hard enough
to come by but sweeps are even harder, and against a good club like St.
John’s,” said Godwin. “I’m really proud of our guys' effort. I thought
we had a solid week in baseball, just looking to try to get this thing
on the roll, build depth and keep these guys out on the field, and I
think we get the chance to get better and better every time we get out.”
The other impressive
part of this series was the hitting, especially with runners in scoring
position.
In the series finale,
the Pirates plated five big runs in the second inning, doing all of the
damage with two outs.
“Hitting is
contagious,” said ECU shortstop Jack Reinheimer. “One guy gets a hit and
the rest of the guys just follow. It feels great with pitchers throwing
strikes and pounding the zone and the defense is making plays, and that
is what’s going to win ball games.”
Lucroy had the most
impressive start of the weekend. He struck out nine and gave up only 2
hits and 2 runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched on Sunday.
“I just went out there
and had a lot of fun,” said Lucroy. “Coaches said I needed to go out
there and feel comfortable. It worked out well. The guys played good
defense behind me and our guys hit early and that really helped us out.”
“Were still talking
about a guy who’s only thrown 12 innings of college baseball,” said
Godwin. “I thought he was good last week, but he was outstanding today.
I thought he threw his fast ball, and his slider was even better. He got
us deep in the game. I thought he was outstanding.”
Former major league
broadcaster Joe Garagiola once wrote a book called “Baseball is a Funny
Game.” It certainly is. That same team that got thumped by Liberty on
Wednesday last week did all of the little things to win this past
weekend.
“Everyday is a new
adventure and that’s one thing I know about this game,” joked Godwin.
“Another thing I know about the game is that I don’t know (about this
game). But I like this team. I’ve said it all along and I liked the way
they didn’t quit. They battled back and got themselves into good
position and that’s a credit to the guys in that locker room.”
After the Pirates host
UNC-Greensboro today (3 p.m.) and visit Old Dominion on Wednesday (3
p.m.), Monmouth comes to town this coming weekend to take on the law
firm.
Billy Godwin and the
Pirate Nation hope for another successful trial for Hoffman, Williams &
Lucroy.
BB
E-mail Brian Bailey.
Brian Bailey Archives
03/05/2013 02:02 AM |
Replay
Monday night's BRIAN BAILEY SHOW.
Brian's guests were ECU baseball coach
Billy Godwin (below left)
and
Kinston Free-Press managing editor Bryan
Hanks (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.