Pirates hit the road after series win

By Brian Bailey
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It wasn’t a sweep but East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin will certainly take it.

The Pirates beat Tulane in the first two games of their pre-Easter series at Clark-LeClair Stadium, giving ECU its first series win in American Athletic Conference play.

It came at a good time with ECU set to play eight of its next nine games on the road. That includes AAC series against South Florida this coming weekend and Connecticut next weekend.

The Pirates dropped game three to Tulane on Saturday in a game that was probably as winnable as the other two in the series. Down by a pair the, ECU loaded the basis but Eric Tyler grounded into a game-ending double play which featured a nice play by the Green Wave shortstop Stephen Alemais.

“I thought it was going through,” said Pirate infielder Charlie Yorgen. “I mean, it is tough. We competed every single inning. When they scored, we'd chip back. It's heartbreaking, but we competed to the best we could. I mean, we played really well. We just really needed a shut down inning after we would come in and score. And they battled hard, man. They played really well, hit the ball well. It was a back and forth game. It was a good one.”

Despite the loss, Cliff Godwin continues to be encouraged.

“You can see how good we can be,” said Godwin. “I mean, we played really well the first two nights and we played good in two out of the three phases today. We just didn't pitch good. You know, to sweep a team in this conference, you've got to play well in all three phases on Sunday. We couldn't do that.”

One look at the AAC standings shows that the Pirates are right in the middle fighting for position.

This weekend’s opponent, USF leads the pack at 5-1. The Bulls are 22-10-1 overall. USF swept Cincinnati at home and took two out of three from UConn on the road.

The Bulls have a 24-1 loss to Florida State and a 10-3 loss to Florida on their ledger for 2015.

Like the Pirates, UConn is 3-3 in AAC play so far this season. The Huskies took two out of three from Tulane on the road and then lost two out of three at home against USF.

News out of the Pirate camp was positive to start the week. Lefthander Reid Love was named as the American Athletic Conference’s pitcher of the week. Love opened the Tulane series with a four-hit shutout in a 3-0 Pirate victory. He faced two batters over the minimum.

“I just really wanted to keep it simple and do the things that I do well,” said Love after the Thursday night victory.

Love is also among the top offensive threats for this ECU squad. He is hitting .311 to go along with his 3-2 pitching mark and 2.88 ERA.

“I just want to do whatever I can do to help this team win games,” Love said.

He will be a key as this long season continues.

With a seven-game home stand in the rearview mirror, ECU's road swing starts with a bus trip to face Campbell tonight, and we all know the problems the Pirates have had with the guys in orange.

Then come the conference road tests at USF and UConn sandwiched by a home game with UNC-Wilmington and a road trip to Old Dominion.

Depth may prove to be the key as the Pirates head to the heart of their schedule.

BB

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