060411 BRIAN BAILEY ::: Timely hitting goes AWOL again [ba]

East Carolina went through a stretch this season when the Pirates couldn't buy a clutch hit. That same monster reared its ugly head again on opening day of the Charlottesville Regional on Friday.

The Pirates out-hit St. John's 10-9 but came up with blanks on the scoreboard. The Red Storm scored just two runs, but that was enough to beat ECU in this Charlottesville Regional opener.

St. John's centerfielder Jimmy Brennan was especially hard on the Pirates. Brennan was 3-5 on the night and drove in the Storm's first run. He also made what Billy Godwin said afterwards was the biggest play of the game, when he robbed John Wooten of an extra base hit in the first inning when the Pirates had the bases loaded.

Give credit to lefty Sean Hagan for St. John's. He fired 7 1/3 shutout innings. Hagan kept the Pirates off balance all night long.

Godwin says his team will come back fighting tomorrow. They'll have to, because Saturday's loser between East Carolina and Navy goes home.

On the positive side, the Pirates do have a deep enough staff to still make some noise in Charlottesville. Godwin wasn't tipping his hand as far as his pitching was concerned for Saturday.

Ace Seth Maness is ready to go. Godwin may gamble and look elsewhere, saving Maness for later on. Whoever Godwin goes with will be on a short leash with pitchers available and the Pirates facing elimination.

Navy lost its game to Virginia 6-0. The Middies certainly won't go down without a fight, so the Pirate task is that much more difficult.