View from the East Friday, May 25, 2012 By Al Myatt

Pirates aim for recovery

By Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

East Carolina's opening game in the Conference USA baseball tournament in Pearl, MS, was an all-too familiar scenario for the Pirates, a strong but unrewarded pitching effort for senior left-hander Kevin Brandt.

Despite a complete game from Brandt, two errors in the bottom of the sixth inning led to two Tulane runs and provided the winning margin for the third-seeded Green Wave in a 4-3 victory over the sixth-seeded Pirates.

Tulane improved to 38-18 while ECU slipped to 34-21-1 going into a 4 p.m. (EDT) game today against Central Florida at Trustmark Park.

Brandt threw his fourth complete game of the season, saving other Pirate arms for later in the tournament if need be. His record is a deceptive 7-6. His earned run average, 1.85, is a better indicator of his effectiveness.

"You get in tight games and it's kind of the same old song," said ECU coach Billy Godwin. "In a close game, you've got to execute and we didn't execute well enough. That's the bottom line."

The Pirates scored once in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Corey Thompson and the potential winning run came to the plate.

A pop-up in foul territory ended ECU's last threat, leaving the Pirates in need of some help to get to Sunday's 2 p.m. championship from a pod that also includes second-seeded UCF and seventh-seeded Alabama-Birmingham.

The Blazers stunned UCF 15-1 in Thursday's first game. The Pirate Nation will be pulling for UAB in a noon matchup with Tulane today. Pod play concludes Saturday with Tulane and UCF meeting at noon and ECU taking on the Blazers in the following game.

Currently, UAB and Tulane are both 1-0 in the tournament. ECU and UCF are each 0-1.

Godwin is focused exclusively on ECU.

"I could literally care less what anybody else does," he said Thursday. "All I want to do is go out and play well, play like we're capable of playing and let the chips fall where they may. That's all we need to focus on. We don't need to focus on what other people need to do. We need to focus on what we do."

Godwin plans to start junior right-hander Jharel Cotton (8-1, 3.22 ERA), a transfer from Miami Dade, against the Knights today. Cotton got the decision in ECU's only win in the regular season series when the Pirates beat UCF 15-6 in Orlando on March 25. Cotton had 11 strikeouts in seven innings. He allowed 10 hits, two earned runs and walked one.

"He threw well against them last time," Godwin said of Cotton. "It's a better matchup."

The first game of the UCF series on March 23 saw Brandt go the distance in a 2-1 ECU loss. Right fielder Alex Friedrich of the Knights had four hits with a home run in a 10-6 UCF win in the second game of the regular season series with the Pirates.

Godwin said Cotton will be one of the keys this afternoon.

"We've got to get a good effort out of him, number one," said the Pirates skipper. "He's got to give us a quality start. It's simple. We've got to manufacture and score runs, take care of the baseball and get quality pitching. If that happens, we've got a chance to win."

ECU worked out at a private school close to their accommodations on Thursday. The Pirates are staying about 20 minutes from the ball park.

"We were just trying to get the guys to relax a little bit and not be so up tight," Godwin said. "They need to realize it's just a game and we need to go out and have fun. They need to have a focused relaxation about them."

That means a short memory regarding the league tournament opener against Tulane.

"It's tough to lose games like that," Godwin said. "Nobody is more disappointed than I am and they are. ... They're certainly not happy about the outcome."

Various projections have ECU as a No. 2 seed in an NCAA regional hosted by North Carolina or as a No. 2 seed in a regional at Charlottesville, VA. Postseason pairings are scheduled to be announced on Monday. That's in the distant future as far as Godwin is concerned.

"We've still got work to do," said the ECU coach. "We're not thinking about Monday. There's been no plans made. Right now we're thinking about playing at three o'clock (Central time on Friday). All those decisions (involved with the NCAA Tournament) will be made when the (Conference USA) tournament is over."

Closer company in C-USA appreciated

One future element that Godwin didn't mind commenting on Thursday was the addition of Charlotte and Old Dominion as members of C-USA.

"I certainly welcome that," he said. "It's good that we're going to have two teams within a four-hour radius of East Carolina that are in the league. They are two quality programs."

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PAGE UPDATED 05/25/12 01:57 AM.