CHRONICLING ECU AND AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE SPORTS

View from the East
Friday, May 6, 2016

By Al Myatt

Al Myatt

Day games at UConn

Next: ECU at Connecticut

Fri. 3 pm | Sat. 1 pm | Sun. 12 pm

View ECU's full schedule on ECUPirates.com

 

BASEBALL

Pirates want no more kisses

East Carolina had plenty of chances to take the deciding game in its American Athletic Conference series with first-place Cincinnati last weekend. When you mix in Sunday's noon start with a 94-minute rain delay, add in a 4 p.m. travel curfew and end up with a 3-3 tie, it leaves you thinking about the what ifs. ... More from Brian Bailey...

MULTIMEDIA
Audio: The Brian Bailey Show

The Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. Brian's guests this week were ECU baseball coach Cliff Godwin (left) and New England Patriots free agent signee Bryce Williams (right): Replay show...

 
 

GENERAL

Pirates gathering to back Varner

When former East Carolina golfer Harold Varner III tees off on No. 10 at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte at 1 p.m. today for the Wells Fargo Pro-Am, he will have a group of followers wearing purple shirts. ... More from Al Myatt...

 

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Star juco QB joins 2016 class

Almost three months after signing day, East Carolina has addressed a pressing need that arose unexpectedly with Kurt Benkert's decision to transfer to Virginia. Gardner Minshew of national champion Northwest Mississippi Community College will enroll at ECU and contend with Philip Nelson for the starting quarterback position. ... Thumbnail sketches...

Thumbnails: Class of 2016 | Class of 2017

 

BASEBALL

Cincinnati rallies for tie

GREENVILLE — Cincinnati scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning for a 3-3 tie with host East Carolina on Sunday. The contest was not completed because of the American Athletic Conference's deadline for finishing Sunday games. ... More...

Next: ECU at UConn | Friday, 3 pm

BASEBALL

Pirates hold off Bearcats, even series

GREENVILLE — East Carolina ended an offensive lull and evened its American Athletic Conference series against visiting Cincinnati with a 6-4 win Saturday. ECU had scored just eight runs in its previous six games. The Pirates took a 6-0 lead into the top of the ninth Saturday but the league-leading Bearcats created some anxiety for a Clark-LeClair Stadium crowd of 2,915 before Joe Ingle recorded his ninth save. ... Story, pictures & audio...

Pictured: ECU junior Luke Bolka slides into home after a Charlie Yorgen ground out to the right side of the infield in the third inning of the Pirates' 6-4 AAC win over Cincinnati on Saturday at Clark-LeClair Stadium. (W.A. Myatt photo)

Post-game audio: Godwin, Boyd, Bolka...

BASEBALL

Cincinnati tops Pirates, 3-0

GREENVILLE — Cincinnati extended its lead in the American Athletic Conference with a 3-0 win over East Carolina at Clark-LeClair Stadium Friday night in the opener of a three-game series. Tulane's 10-6 loss to Houston put the Bearcats 1.5 games ahead of the second-place Green Wave. Andrew Zellner (6-2) and A.J. Kullman, who got his second save, combined for the shutout of the Pirates. ... Story, pictures & audio...

Pictured: The view from 'The Jungle' during ECU's Friday evening loss to American Athletic Conference opponent Cincinnati. (W.A. Myatt photo)

Post-game audio: Godwin, Kruczynski, Tyler...

 

BASEBALL

Exams and tests for Pirates

Al MyattThe term student-athlete is descriptive of the players in the East Carolina baseball program and will be especially applicable over the coming days as spring semester exams coincide with a home series against Cincinnati ... More from Al Myatt...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

By Al Myatt
©2016 Bonesville.net
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Connecticut's J.O. Christian Field is sort of the Wrigley Field of yesteryear among college baseball facilities. There are no lights so the series opener for East Carolina and the Huskies is at 3 p.m. today.

Weather may be a factor in the absence of illumination since night games might be uncomfortably chilly during much of the college baseball season in Storrs, CT.

You can check out the park here.

There are often vast differences between hitters' performances in day vs. night comparisons.

Former Pirates signee Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels is hitting .424 in day games thus far this season. He's at .268 for night games.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a .325 average for day games in 2016 but after the sun sets they're at .256. The Boston Red Sox are hitting . 288 at night and .268 during the day.

In major league baseball overall, the average for day and night is .249 but there is some variation between leagues. The American League is hitting .239 for day games and .248 at night. National Leaguers hit .258 in the daytime and .249 at night.

A study presented in Minneapolis in 2011 said sleep types had an impact on the situation with "morning types" hitting better during the day and "evening types" doing better nocturnally.

"I always felt like I saw the ball better at night," said ECU coach Cliff Godwin. "I think it's more of an individual preference. I always thought the white ball and the dark contrast helped me out. ... The general consensus is that you see it better in the daylight."

The Pirates may take after their coach if wins and losses are an indication.

ECU is 7-2 in Friday games which are usually played at night. The Pirates are 4-5 in Sunday games, generally in the afternoon.

No doubt, ECU Friday starter Evan Kruczynski is a factor in the Pirates' success in series openers.

Baseball in renovation plans

The $55 million renovation of the south side of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, ECU's football facility, also will include some improvements for baseball.

"We need a bigger area for our hitters," Godwin said. "We have a small area hitting indoors right now. It's just tough for us to get all our hitters in there at one time.

"Normally when it's a rainy day we have to split our hitters up. Half will hit and half will go lift and then we'll flip-flop. After that the pitchers will come in and throw. It's really not an area big enough for all of those guys to be there at one time. We're looking to have a bigger indoor hitting facility and turn the indoor hitting area that we have now into two bullpen mounds, kind of like a pitching indoor area, a place where our guys can go in there and throw bullpens and get their work in at the same time the hitters are getting their hitting in."

The new indoor hitting facility will be where the outdoor cages are now.

"It will probably take out the opposing bullpen," Godwin said. "We'll probably take out a little bit of that grass area that is down the first base side, close to the stadium, and make that their bullpen area."

Huskies feature southpaws

ECU (27-16-1, 8-6-1) leads the American Athletic Conference in hitting with a .291 team average. Pirates freshman Dwanya Williams-Sutton leads the league in hitting (.354) and on-base percentage (.440).

Lefties Anthony Kay and Tim Cate are averaging 8.84 and 11.48 strikeouts per game for the Huskies (24-19, 8-6), respectively.

Opponents are hitting .211 against Kay and .169 vs. Cate.

The Pirates saw both in taking two of three in a tight series in Greenville on April 23-24.

"They're two of the best in the conference," Godwin said. "They pitched very well against us, both of them did, two weeks ago."

ECU went 1-1-1 against Cincinnati last weekend.

"Against Cincinnati, we talked about we needed to get more leadoff guys on base," Godwin said. "Against UConn, we're really going to have to make sure we can take away Anthony Kay's fastball. His fastball was really good against us. We just weren't able to catch up to it. ... (Tim) Cate, the other lefty, we need to get guys on base. He doesn't do a great job, because he's a freshman, of controlling the running game. If we can get guys on base, that will kind of distract him some and help us put more pressure on him."

The Pirates are aware of the hitting ability of UConn's Joe Deroche-Duffin, who leads the AAC in home runs with 12 and RBIs with 40.

ECU also has league leaders in saves (Joe Ingle, 9) and pitching starts (Jacob Wolfe, 12).

Coach drove home last year

Godwin drove back to Greenville after the series at UConn last season. He plans to fly back with the team this year.

"Unless something pops up with somebody where I have to run out," he said. "Last year, I went in and visited Denny Brady, a freshman on our team, on that Monday."

Freshman hurlers abound

Brady is now one of a fleet of freshmen pitchers who are cutting their collegiate teeth for the Pirates, No. 36 in the current NCAA ratings index.

"The freshmen have been thrown into the fire," Godwin said. "Sam Lanier was out there Sunday (3-3 tie with Cincinnati) with the game on the line and really did an unbelievable job, a Houdini act, to get out of that jam. We should have won. We ended up tying but he held his poise and stayed in there even after we didn't make the play over there in the four hole. He kept going and got us out of it, assured us of a tie. Matt Bridges pitched well this past weekend. Chris Holba has done a good job. Denny Brady did a good job at Memphis, coming in. A lot of those freshmen are definitely continuing to get better each and every day."

ECU will lose senior right-hander Jimmy Boyd from the current weekend rotation. Kruczynski might be drafted.

"Evan is going to have some decisions to make," Godwin said. "The one thing I can say without revealing Evan's personal situation is that Evan loves playing baseball at East Carolina. Evan is not going to sign for just anything, so I think we have a good chance of getting Evan back. At the end of the day, it depends on what the scouts value Evan at monetarily. That's a little ways away so we'll worry about that once the draft rolls around."

The intent is to prepare the freshmen for a bigger role in the future.

"That's the goal every year," Godwin said. "I would have thought Chris Holba and Denny Brady as we recruited them would have bigger roles than what they have now but sometimes it just takes freshmen, it takes them a year to really come into their own just because it is different. The hitters are better. The competition is better. The pressure that baserunners put on them, that kind of pressure wasn't put on them in high school.

"They doubt themselves at times. The most confident freshmen doubt themselves at times. I've seen it year-in and year-out where even a guy that maybe hasn't pitched much at all — where they come back their sophomore year they look like a different guy. It's the same person and their stuff's not better but all of a sudden they start believing that they can get people out. We're preparing them each and every day to try to have bigger roles next year."

'Kruz's evolution'

Kruczynski is a prime example of improvement, compiling an 18.00 earned run average in three appearances as a freshman in 2014. Kruczynski has pitched 77 and two-thirds innings this season. He is 5-1 with a league-leading 1.51 ERA. He has walked 14 and struck out 64.

"The guys make the joke on the team now that have seen Kruz's evolution," Godwin said. "His freshman year, they were like, 'I can't believe this guy is on our team. How did they recruit this guy?' Now look at where he is — tremendous credit to Evan Kruczynski and the way he prepares himself.

"I tell people all the time that what he does between starts with his preparation is as good as any pitcher that I've ever been around and that's why he has success. ... It's physical and mental preparation. The day after, he's going to get a great lift in and he's going to get some running in, which is pretty difficult. When I say running, it's not a jog. It's him really getting after it, probably almost making himself throw up. The next day he's going to get another lift in and probably take the day off from throwing. Also, the arm care stuff he does with Zac Womack (trainer) each and every day to make his arm feel good is a factor. As far as his bullpen sessions and his flat grounds and his long tossing, just the relentless little details that he follows each and every week are part of his preparation.

"I don't know if it was Roger Clemens or Nolan Ryan who said the easiest day for a pitcher should be the day he pitches but that's the way Kruczynski prepares himself. He crushes himself starting on Saturday to get ready for next Friday. Then Friday he feels like he's as prepared as anybody in the country. He goes out there and has success."

AAC travel deadline

The AAC deadline limited the Bearcats and Pirates on Sunday and led to the tie. No inning can begin after 4 p.m. on get-away day.

"Any time you're within driving distance, you don't have that but when you're dealing with flights and dealing with student-athletes having to get back on Monday, that comes into play," Godwin said. "It comes into play even at times you don't see it. That's why a lot of times Sunday games are moved up earlier. I think we played Houston at 11 o'clock in the morning. That game with Cincinnati was scheduled for (1 p.m.) and we moved it up to noon because of the four o'clock travel curfew. We had a (94 minute) rain delay and still were able to get eight innings in. We almost got nine in but we didn't. It's just the way it is."

Second series with UConn

The eight teams in the AAC for baseball play one another a series of three games each and have a second series with the nearest league member for a total of 24 regular-season league games.

"They're technically not our closest," Godwin said of UConn. "UCF is (closest) but UCF and South Florida match up."

Mileage to Storrs from Greenville is listed at 642.8 miles via I-95. It's 641.8 miles to Orlando.

General recruiting outlook

Godwin isn't planning on a return trip down I-95 this year but he is stoked about ECU's incoming class.

"It's going awesome," he said of recruiting. "We've really done a great job in my opinion. Jeff Palumbo leads the recruiting efforts but also Dan Roszel (pitching coach) helps out. Myself, we're all out there evaluating players and getting players excited about East Carolina University, which in my opinion, is not difficult to do.

" ... The class we have coming in is really good. We're having kids that are going to turn down a lot of money to come to East Carolina. We're still not out of the dark yet but we have a lot of kids that really value the college experience in this class and who are academically strong.

"They want to get a great education from East Carolina. They want to get a great baseball experience and just the college experience in general. I think a lot of people think when kids turn down the draft it's all about education. Well, that's a big piece to the puzzle but it's not everything. It's the college experience. It's playing in front of 3,500 to 5,000 Pirate fans at East Carolina. It's going to football games and being able to do all of those things that you'll never be able to do if you sign a professional contract.

"We're lucky that we've got a great group of guys that have committed to helping ECU get to Omaha (site of the College World Series). Our class is really good."

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