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BASEBALL |
Pirates come back for sweep |
GREENVILLE — East Carolina faced its first
deficit of the young season and responded by
rallying for a 5-3 nonconference win over
Longwood on Sunday afternoon before 3,067 at
Clark-LeClair Stadium.
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More... |
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Next:
N.C. A&T at ECU |
Tuesday, 3 pm* |
*Reflects
weather-related schedule change. Game was
originally scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. |
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BASKETBALL |
Mustangs take 74-63 win over ECU |
DALLAS — Southern Methodist had an 8-0 run
at the end of the first half to overcome a
35-28 East Carolina lead Sunday afternoon
and the host Mustangs went on to take a
74-63 American Athletic Conference win.
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More... |
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Next: ECU at
Tulane | Wednesday, 8 pm | ESPNN |
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BASEBALL |
Another strong start keys Pirates |
GREENVILLE — East Carolina got another
strong starting performance on the mound to
win its second game in a season-opening
series with Longwood on Saturday. The
Pirates topped the Lancers 9-6 at Clark-LeClair
Stadium as Jacob Wolfe pitched six scoreless
innings after being staked to a 5-0 lead in
the third inning.
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More... |
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BASEBALL |
Pirates start impressively |
GREENVILLE — East Carolina
junior left-hander Evan
Kruczynski pitched seven
scoreless innings as the Pirates
opened the baseball season with
an 11-1 nonconference win over
visiting Longwood on Friday.
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BASEBALL |
Outlook is sunny for
Pirates in '16 |
The
recent cold weather has not been
suited for baseball but the East
Carolina program has been making the
best of the situation with the
season opener at home against
Longwood today at 4 p.m. The Lancers
were 22-34 overall last season and
9-15 in the Big South Conference.
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More from Al Myatt...
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BASEBALL |
Pirates primed for
encore and more |
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Ol'
Gomer
Pyle
would
have
smiled
from ear
to ear
and
hollered
out:
“Surprise,
surprise,
surprise!”
That's
how East
Carolina's
baseball
team
celebrated
its 2015
American
Athletic
Conference
championship
last
season.
Nobody
expected
the
Pirates,
with a
first-year
coach,
to post
40
victories
and walk
off with
the
league's
top
trophy.
...
More
from
Woody
Peele... |
Pictured: Projected
opening day starter
Evan Kruczynski
deals last season in
a solid performance
against No. 2
Virginia. The junior
lefthander posted an
8-4 record with a
3.17 ERA in 2015.
(Photo by W.A.
Myatt) |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2016 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE
ALPHA VERSION OF THIS PAGE
Break out the brooms. East Carolina opened the 2016
baseball season with a sweep of Longwood at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The season is a marathon and not a sprint. Still,
second-year head coach Cliff Godwin and the Pirates were more than
excited to get the opening weekend sweep.
“It feels awesome,” said Godwin after ECU's
comeback win in Sunday's series finale. “We had a
great crowd and they really helped us out today. Anytime you can sweep a
team, it’s awesome. Longwood is pretty good. You saw the 9th inning
Saturday and the way they played today. It was a close game and it was
good for our guys to be in that situation.”
There were several keys to the sweep. It all began on
the mound. East Carolina got outstanding starting pitching in all three
games.
“They are fun to catch,” said Johnny Bench Award
watch list member Travis Watkins. “Evan Kruczynski, you know what you’re
going to get out of him. He’s always going to compete; throwing pitches
for strikes and really gets after it. Jacob Wolfe was outstanding. His
fastball was an off-speed pitch this weekend, it was incredible. Jimmy
Boyd gave us a chance to win on Sunday and that’s what you want.”
Also from the mound Joe Ingle picked up a pair of
saves. He went two innings on Sunday to close out the 5-3 win.
“It feels awesome,” said Ingle, who was a freshman
All-American last season. "It was a great team effort. They gave us
their best blow late which is what we expected. Everybody is going to
give us their best everyday so we have to be ready for that.”
Next up for East Carolina is a Tuesday matchup with
North Carolina A&T, weather permitting. Originally scheduled for
Wednesday, the game was moved up in an attempt to dodge sketchy weather.
Don’t think for one minute that this Pirate team will
look past the Aggies – with defending national champion Virginia next up
on the slate.
“You should know me well enough,” said Godwin. “We
are not going to look ahead. If we play flat then you can come talk to
me. Every game matters. When you are trying to host a regional or a
super regional, every game matters. I think we will play well on
Wednesday.”
Still, the matchup with the Cavaliers is certainly on
the Pirates' minds.
Godwin said he would go with his same rotation of
Kruczynski, Wolfe and Boyd against Virginia.
The lefty Kruczynski got his first collegiate start
last year against the Cavaliers, ranked second in the nation at the
time. He gave up a pair of runs, scattering 8 hits in 5 1/3 innings
pitched.
“I think we are all looking forward to playing them (UVa),”
said Kruczynski, who will once again get the Friday start against the
Cavaliers. “It’s always fun to play in Charlottesville. Hopefully, we’ll
be 4-0 when we play this weekend.”
Closer Joe Ingle agreed.
“It’s pretty important,” said Ingle. “We want to win
always. We’re not going to focus on them but rather ourselves and try to
play our best baseball. If we do that then we are going to be fine.”
The weekend weather at Virginia looks to be in the
upper 40’s with plenty of sunshine, though there is a chance of snow
flurries on Sunday.
Perhaps the Pirates' hot start will warm things up
against the defending national champions this weekend.
BB