VIEW THE MOBILE ALPHA VERSION OF THIS SITE

----------

News Nuggets, 05.29.04
----------
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Previous Day Nuggets...             Next Day Nuggets...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Stunning losses leave Pirates with time to ponder

A funny thing happened on regular season champion East Carolina's expected journey to Sunday's Conference USA Tournament title game — the nationally 4th-ranked Pirates ran out of karma and fell by the wayside with back-to-back losses to a pair of 4/5 seeds.

Texas Christian, which finished the regular season tied with Houston in the fourth and fifth spots in the league standings, bushwhacked ECU 10-4 Friday night, eliminating the Pirates from the tournament.

The Horned Frogs punched their tickets to Saturday semifinals with a solid all-around game. TCU piled up 15 hits, while Chad Underwood (5) and Robbie Findlay (7) combined to strike out 12 Pirate batters. Chad Huffman was 4-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and Chris Neuman and J.J. Estrada hit home runs to highlight the Frogs' attack.

The sobering loss for ECU came a day after tourney-host Houston overcame a two-run deficit in the final two innings to inflict a humbling 6-5 defeat on the nationally 4th-ranked Pirates and chase them into the losers' bracket of the double-elimination event.

It all amounted to a painful dose of reality for an ECU team which came into the tournament thinking in terms of locking down a host spot in the NCAA regionals and super regionals.

Now, the Pirates insist, they'll put the dose of humble pie out of their minds and aim their sights at the prize they've had their eyes on all along.

"We just decided in the huddle that we're not going to talk about this game, we're not going to talk about this tournament," said ECU head coach Randy Mazey in his post-game comments. "We have put ourselves in an outstanding position to find out if we're a national seed or not."

Ryan Norwood of the Pirates must have gotten the word about keeping a focus on the College World Series.

"Hey, five more wins and we're in Omaha," said the first baseman. "That's been our goal all year. As soon as I hit the bus, I'm going to forget about this."

C-USA Player of the Year Ryan Jones saw a silver lining in the shocking losses.

"We'd rather lose two games here than at regionals," noted the ECU centerfielder. "We have it out of our system. A new season starts next weekend."

Next weekend for the Pirates, in spite of their disappointing outcome in Houston, is likely to be spent as the host team in an NCAA regional at Kinston's Grainger Stadium.

While ECU ponders the regionals and beyond, TCU will battle Houston today and UAB will face Southern Miss to determine the combatants for Sunday's championship game.

USM reached the semifinals with a 13-0 waltz past Memphis on Friday that was halted after seven innings by the mercy rule. Mike Cashion tossed a complete-game three-hitter for the Golden Eagles, while Carlos Velasquez hit a grand slam and Jarrett Hoffapuir had a homer and four RBI's.

Houston and UAB, the only teams without a loss in the tournament, had a bye on Friday and can each spare one loss on Saturday and still reach Sunday's title showdown.

Tune in to the Pirate Radio 1250 live Internet feed.
View the C-USA Tournament schedule & scoreboard page.

Budding whistle-blowers earn scholarships

Conference USA has announced that it will award two officiating grants to graduating student-athletes that have exhausted their eligibility. The two recipients will participate in officiating camps this summer to gain knowledge and working experience in officiating.

“Our purpose in developing these grants was to allow women to continue their athletics career through officiating,” said C-USA Senior Associate Commissioner Brenda Weare.

Cassie Ozark of DePaul, a defender on the women’s soccer team, will pursue an opportunity to attend an officiating camp for women’s soccer this July in Ormond Beach, Fla. Ozark is a native of Grand Haven, Mich. and has earned a spot on the C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll twice while qualifying for the DePaul Dean’s List three consecutive years.

“I’m very excited to stay involved in college athletics,” Ozark said. “For four years of my life I was a part of something that meant so much to me, and now I get a chance to continue to be a part of that.”

Tiffanie Hoey of Charlotte, a member of the 49er basketball team, has also received an officiating grant. The 6-1 forward will attend an officiating camp for women’s basketball in Elgin, Ill. this July. Hoey averaged 5.1 points a game over the 2003-04 season and shot 42.5 percent from the field. The Charlotte native ranked second on her team with 142 rebounds and eight blocks last season.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007