A week to remember

By Brian Bailey
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On Monday of this past week I asked first year East Carolina baseball coach Cliff Godwin what a 5-0 week would mean to his program.

In typical coach-speak fashion, Godwin gave me the ole ‘we take them one a time’ speech.

Sunday’s win over Central Florida gave ECU that perfect week. Five one-run wins. Two victories over Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Three wins over 24th-ranked UCF. Godwin could only smile.

“Did you really ask that on Monday?” he grinned and asked.

This time Godwin didn’t have to say a lot. The smile spoke volumes.

In his first year, Cliff Godwin has his team tied for first in the American Athletic Conference as the calendar flips to May. The RPI (ratings percentage index), which plays such a big role in determining which teams make the NCAA regionals, is under fifty and getting lower. Perhaps things are coming around sooner than expected.

Godwin isn’t worried about the prize down the road. He knew his team would play hard this season. That hard play has translated into victories. The program’s goal, even in its first year, hasn’t changed.

So what does that 5-0 week mean to this program?

“It means that we’ve been playing well and we have momentum going,” said Godwin. “The expectations of this program are not just to go 5-0 and beat two ACC teams. The expectation is to go to Omaha and that’s what we talk about all the time. Yes, this was a step in the right direction, but we have to keep winning games to put ourselves in position to play in post-season.”

The players agreed with their coach.

Luke Lowery hit a three-run home run in Sunday’s win over UCF. That four-run first was the key to getting that sweep over the Knights.

“Coach Godwin always preaches energy on Sunday,” said Lowery. “The team that is going to have the most energy is the team that is going to win and that’s what we try to do. We did it at UConn. We had a big game last Sunday against them. We try to come out here and pounce on the opposing team early.”

The Pirates certainly did pounce on Sunday, only to hang on to dear life. Just when it looked like they would finally win a relatively easy game, the Knights rallied against a tired ECU bullpen.

“Did you think it was going to be easy?” Godwin asked the media after the game. “Really, did you really think it was going to be easy? Yeah, you weren’t expecting that? They are a good team. They were ranked in the top ten early in the year. You don’t get ranked in the top ten by accident and it’s tough to hold them down.”

The Pirates get another shot to improve their RPI with a visit to Liberty this week. East Carolina dropped a one-run decision to the Flames back in February in the Keith LeClair Classic.

It’s really hard to believe that the Pirates host their last home American series this coming weekend with UConn in town. The Pirates took two out of three from the Huskies in Storrs just last week. UConn and East Carolina play two separate series as a part of the American’s scheduling plan to give each team 24 conference games.

After 15 league contests the Pirates are in a four-way tie for first with Memphis, South Florida and Houston. ECU will take on the Cougars in Houston before playing at Cincinnati to close out the American slate.

Winning close games is an art form that the Pirates have certainly perfected of late.

Learning how to win close games is often half the battle. Winning programs do it best.

You can’t do it much better than the Pirates did this past week.

BB

E-mail Brian Bailey.