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Audio: Brian Bailey
Show |
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  The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30
p.m. Brian's guests this week
were ECU assistant baseball
coach Jeff Palumbo (left), Pitt Community College
baseball
coach Tommy Eason (right) and
D.H. Conley High School softball
coach Wayne Deans:
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show... |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Pirates land a center with
pedigree |
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 You could call John Spellacy a
product of tradition. He's part of a
prestigious Cleveland, Ohio-area
family that has a long history of
public service. Like the majority of
males in his family, John attends
St. Ignatius High School
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More from
Sammy Batten... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates take series at UCF, 7-1 |
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ORLANDO
— Jimmy Boyd pitched seven innings
and freshman Matt Bridges added two
scoreless innings of relief as East
Carolina clinched its American
Athletic Conference series at
Central Florida with a 7-1 win
Friday.
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BASKETBALL RECRUITING |
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Hawaii guard moving back East |
 East
Carolina coach Jeff Lebo has
received a verbal commitment
from Delaware product Isaac
Fleming, a 6-3 guard with
3-point shooting skills who
logged significant playing time
and averaged more than 9 points
per game over the last two
seasons at Hawaii. ...
Recruiting class of 2016-17
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates take opener at UCF |
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ORLANDO
— East Carolina scored two runs on
two Central Florida errors and the
Pirates never trailed in a 5-3
American Athletic Conference win
Thursday. The game started at 11
a.m. and today's game is scheduled
to get under way at 11 this morning
as well to avoid potential rain
later in the day.
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BASEBALL |
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Senior recognition adjusted |
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 East
Carolina's baseball seniors were
scheduled to be recognized when
the Pirates hosted Campbell on
Tuesday night but that game was
rained out. ECU's upperclassmen
still had their Senior Night
under modified circumstances.
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More from Al Myatt...
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BASEBALL |
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Campbell-ECU game canceled |
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East
Carolina's nonconference home
baseball game with Campbell on
Tuesday night was canceled due to
rain and was not scheduled to be
made up. The Pirates, 31-19-1
overall and 12-8-1 in the American
Athletic Conference, return to
action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at
Central Florida
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By
Brian Bailey
©2016 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE
ALPHA VERSION OF THIS PAGE
The East Carolina baseball team is in Clearwater,
Florida, for the American Athletic Conference tournament, hoping to go
back to back at the beach.
ECU
won the league championship a year ago and enters this
year's tournament as the number two seed. The Pirates finished just a
half game behind 2016 league champion Tulane.
If ever there was an opponent that the Pirates should
be able to zero in on, it’s South Florida. ECU opens the tournament
against the Bulls on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
It was USF that came to Greenville two weekends ago
and
took two out of three from the Pirates, ultimately
costing ECU the regular season title.
That puts a great big chip on the Pirates' shoulders
heading into the opener.
Despite coming in as the defending champion, ECU
coach Cliff Godwin says this team won’t play with any pressure.
“I think we faced the most pressure during the
regular season, to be quite honest,” said Godwin. “The schedule was so
hard. Going on the road to Virginia and going on the road to play Rice.
We played a great Jacksonville team in the non-conference. Home and home
with N.C. State and North Carolina, and Duke on the road was difficult.
"We played some tremendous opponents this year. I
thought our guys felt pressure because it was tough for us to get on a
roll. I don’t think our guys will feel pressure this week. I don’t think
our guys will feel pressure heading into regional play.”
Monday was a day of honors in the AAC, and the
Pirates picked up a couple.
Dwanya Williams-Sutton and lefty ace Evan Kruczynski
were both named first-team all-conference. Catcher Travis Watkins was
named to the second team.
Williams-Sutton had to be a candidate for Rookie
Position Player of the Year in the American, but that award went to
Houston’s Joe Davis.
Williams-Sutton led the American in hitting at .372.
He also led the league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He
was the Pirates' MVP in his first year.
“He has meant a lot,” said Godwin. “I don’t think any
of us – including Dwanya, who’s a very soft-spoken kid who doesn’t’ know
how good he can be – expected him to do what he has done this year. He
has been our best player on the field as a freshman. Our guys have a
tremendous amount of respect for him when he is at the plate. In the
past month he has really played at a different level. It’s not just his
hits or his home runs but the way that he goes about his business. He
has really grown up right in front of our eyes.”
Next up it’s the American tournament and then the
Pirates look to be a lock as a number two seed in the NCAA regionals.
Many have ECU in Raleigh against N.C. State and two other squads.
Nothing, though, is official until Memorial Day.
“That stuff means nothing,” said Godwin. “There is
not one person who is on one of those web sites that knows anything. I
love the guys at
D1Baseball.com, but they have no
idea where East Carolina is going. They have no idea who is going to be
in North Carolina State’s regional. There is not one committee member
leaking that information. Now one thing the committee looks at is
regional proximity, so of course it’s a possibility. They have no idea.
We have no idea. Last year I don’t think one media outlet had us going
to Miami, and we went to Miami. You never know. We aren’t looking at
that right now. We are looking forward to USF on Wednesday.”
We all are, as the Pirates take that big chip on
their shoulder into their first round matchup.
BB
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30
p.m. Brian's guest this week was
Pitt Community College
Bulldogs
baseball coach Tommy Eason
(right):