BRIAN BAILEY'S TAKE ON PIRATE SPORTS

From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
-
By Brian Bailey
WNCT-TV 9 Sports Director

Snow signals baseball season

Audio: Brian Bailey Show

The Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. Brian's guest this week was ECU assistant baseball coach Jeff Palumbo: Replay show...

View Pirate Radio 1250 Programming Lineup

 
 

BASKETBALL

Walk waived in Wave win

A photographic trail indicates that the outcome of last Wednesday's East Carolina-Tulane game may have been different if the officiating crew had blown the whistle on a pivotal play by the Green Wave's Louis Dabney. The play in question, which prevented the Pirates from winning in regulation, set the stage for Tulane to prevail in extra periods. ... More, including a 10-frame animation...

Next: USF at ECU | Tuesday | 7 pm | TV: ESPN3

 

BASKETBALL

Bearcat bigs help turn back ECU

CINCINNATI — Octavius Ellis and Gary Clark each had double-doubles to lead Cincinnati to a 75-60 American Athletic Conference win over East Carolina before 12,513 at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday. ... More...

Next: USF at ECU | Tuesday | 7 pm | TV: ESPN3

 

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Howe a prize catch for Pirates

Hussein Howe may not be a football prodigy, but he certainly was ahead of his time at University Christian High School. Howe was so talented as an eighth grader at the private school of about 700 students in Jacksonville, FL, that coach David Penland promoted him to the varsity squad near the end of the 2011 season. ... More from Sammy Batten...

Thumbnails: ECU's recruiting class of 2016...

 

BASKETBALL

Green Wave sinks Pirates in triple OT

GREENVILLE — The East Carolina basketball team must have a stout heart because it got broken – again – on Wednesday night. The Pirates' latest venture into disappointment was a 100-92 triple overtime loss to Tulane in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. ECU slipped to 10-14 overall and 2-9 in the American Athletic Conference despite leading 49-36 with 14 minutes left in regulation. The Pirates had a five-point advantage in the last two minutes of the first extra period. ... Story & pictures...

Pictured: Tulane's Louis Dabney had 32 points in the Green Wave's triple OT win over East Carolina Wednesday night, including this hoop at the end of regulation that sent the game into extra periods. (Photo by Al Myatt)

Post-game audio: Lebo, Conroy, Williams, Barkley...

 

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Recruiting report card: Defense

Pirates load up in secondary

The American Athletic Conference featured three offenses ranked among the nation's top 18 in passing yardage in 2015. Five of the league's starting quarterbacks whose passing yardage was among the top 45 statistically are scheduled to be back next fall. ... More from Sammy Batten...

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Pirates issue full ride to kicker

East Carolina's recruiting class of 2016 has expanded to 23 with a post-signing day letter of intent from Bremen (GA) High School kicker/punter Jake Verity. The Pirates beat out UAB for Verity, who booted a 63-year field goal last season. ... Thumbnail sketches...


Image: 247sports.com

Thumbnails: ECU's recruiting class of 2016...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

By Brian Bailey
©2016 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

VIEW MOBILE ALPHA VERSION OF THIS PAGE

Ice and snow… Freezing temperatures… Welcome to baseball season at East Carolina!

The Pirates opened game week on Monday with freezing rain falling, causing treacherous driving conditions all over eastern North Carolina.

The weather is expected to break later this week, and surprisingly temperatures in the 60’s should help usher in the baseball season.

ECU head coach Cliff Godwin begins his second season with a team that features 17 returning players and 17 newcomers. Getting those players to blend will be the key to getting off to a good start.

“We have a nice blend,” said Godwin as his Pirates continued preparations last week. “We have much more depth and we are a confident bunch.”

A pair of lefties will start this season opening series for the Pirates.

Evan Kruczynski, minus that head full of hair he sported last year, will start Friday’s opener. Jacob Wolfe will go for ECU on Saturday.

The Pirates will wait until the weekend to name Sunday's starter, but Jimmy Boyd appears set for that role unless he is needed earlier in the series.

The ECU coaching staff says there are still several battles for positions taking place this week.

“We do continue to have some battles,” said assistant coach Jeff Palumbo. “I think they will continue on into the season. If you look at our opening day starting lineup from a year ago, and compare it to the one that started the American tournament championship game, you’ll see it was much different.

"I believe that our lineup will evolve over time. We want to utilize our depth and so we will play a lot of players.”

Some positions are pretty much locks. Travis Watkins will be behind the plate. Bryce Harmon will man first base.

Joe Ingle will close. Ingle was named on Monday as one of 70 players on the initial Stopper of the Year Award watch list.

Garrett Brooks and Parker Lamm will likely take two of the outfield slots as team captains. But these two will be pushed as several of the newcomers look to stake their claim to a role with the squad.

Longwood comes to town this weekend after going 22-34 last season. The Lancers have brought in several junior college transfers for second year coach Ryan Mau for this season.

“We’ll get on the Internet and check with all of our contacts on a scouting report,” said Palumbo. “It’s a little tough this early, but we’ll do some research and be ready.”

For whatever reason, season ticket sales for Pirate baseball are down heading into the week. That’s a shame, because Cliff Godwin and company put out a great product that was fun to watch last year – and that should be better this season.

Godwin’s team has already set marks for team GPA and for service hours. Godwin preaches culture and those sermons are paying dividends.

“That’s our baseball culture,” said Godwin. “It took us a while to get on the same page last year, but now we have guys that know what we expect.”

“Coach Godwin tells everyone to work on getting better one percent per day,” added Palumbo. “It adds up. The guys are working hard and ready to play another color of jersey.”

The Pirates get that first chance on Friday afternoon.

The weather appears to be cooperating. It should be a great weekend on the diamond.

We’ll see you at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

BB

E-mail Brian Bailey

Brian Bailey Archives

02/16/2016 01:10 AM
----------