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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
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By Brian Bailey |
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ECU looks to reignite against Heels
By Brian Bailey
©2007 Bonesville.net
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I’d say winning three games on
the road against Conference USA's second place team is some kind of way to
set the stage for a big home stand.
Unfortunately, East Carolina
lost some of that momentum with
Tuesday night’s 8-6 loss to the Citadel.
Ryan Wood stayed white hot,
going 4-5 with two home runs in the loss.
The Pirates now hope to build
on their 32-win resume to date. East Carolina stands at 32-16 after that
loss to the Bulldogs.
The weekend sweep of Houston
was truly something special. The heroes were many. That list begins on the
mound, with this week’s C-USA Pitcher of the Week, T.J. Hose.
Hose got the Pirates off to a great start in Friday night’s 3-1 win. The
junior went 7 2/3 innings, giving up just four hits.
Hose struck out five and
walked one. Most impressively, he retired 16 of 18 batters he faced,
including 14 in a row, after giving up a first inning hit.
Dustin Sasser and Josh Dowdy
followed suit. In fact, the Pirate pitching staff allowed the Cougars just
four earned runs all weekend long. Billy Godwin’s three weekend starters
gave up four runs (only three of them earned) on 13 hits with 11 strikeouts
and nine walks.
How about the weekend Jamie
Ray had down in Texas! Ray’s grand slam in the top of the 9th on Saturday
night gave ECU the win in game two of the series. Over the last two weeks,
Ray is hitting a team-best .458 (11-for-24) with two home runs, nine RBI's,
two doubles, a triple and six runs scored.
Ray followed his grand slam
effort with a 3-for-4 outing, an RBI and three runs scored day on Sunday.
Ray was a part of that six-run fourth inning that blew open game three.
What a difference a weekend
makes!
After losing the first two
games at home to Southern Miss the previous weekend, the Pirates held a
closed door meeting. The last time this squad held such a meeting, its
record was just 2-5. That next stretch vaulted the Pirates into the Top 25
in all of the major polls.
Since the Saturday night loss
to Southern Miss, the Pirates have won four our of five, with three of those
wins coming on the road.
Now, the Pirates are back at
home for five more big games before leaving town again.
A capacity crowd is expected
at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Wednesday, with UNC-Chapel Hill paying a visit.
The Tar Heels blew out ECU in Chapel Hill two weeks ago.
The Tar Heels will come to
Greenville with a national ranking of five or higher in the polls. If ever
there was a “revenge” game, this would be it. This East Carolina team has
competed and beaten several outstanding teams this season. They would like
nothing more then to add the Heels to that list.
Pitching, defense and timely
hitting is a great recipe for a championship. Those three phases of the game
were most evident against the Cougars over the past weekend.
There are just nine games left
on the schedule, and the Pirates stand at 32 wins against an outstanding
schedule. The sky’s the limit as far where this team can end up for the
postseason.
All of the goals are still in
sight for this Pirate team. It should be an interesting couple of weeks, for
sure.
BB
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04/21/2008 07:08:35 PM |
