Ol' Gomer Pyle would have smiled from ear to ear
and hollered out: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”
That's how East Carolina's baseball team
celebrated
its 2015 American Athletic Conference
championship last season. Nobody expected the
Pirates, with a first-year coach, to post 40 victories and walk off
with the league's top trophy.
“A lot of people thought we
were undermanned last year, whether it be the opposition or the
fans.” said Cliff Godwin, set to start his second campaign as the
head Pirate. “And that's why it's so neat.”
Perhaps not. They weren't the
most talented, Godwin pointed out, but they were a great team and
they put East Carolina baseball back on the map and got everybody
fired up.
Now, they're out to do it
again.
“We're deeper on the mound,”
the coach said. “We're more athletic. We have more experience with
the group of guys coming back and the newcomers. We're really
excited about this year's team.”
Not that there weren't a few
key losses from last year's squad. Gone are three of the team's top
hitters, shortstop Hunter Allen (.349 average), outfielder Luke
Lowery (.311, team high 49 runs batted in) and utility player Reid
Love (.287).
But the mound staff returns
intact, along with Davis Kirkpatrick, who missed last year on the
injury list.
“We've got more confidence in
our pitching at this time as compared to last year,” Godwin said.
“We have more experience, more innings and great recruiting. Getting
Kirkpatrick back will be a help.”
On offense, Godwin said the
Pirates were “pretty one-dimensional” last year but have a chance to
be more dynamic this season. Defensively, the team was a good one
(.971 average).
“But we have a chance to be
even better this year,” the coach said.
While Lowery's team-leading
12 home runs are gone, Godwin believes first baseman Bryce Harman
has a chance to hit for power at least a dozen times during the
season.
"Most everyone else could hit
three to six homers each,” Godwin added.
One of the key elements from
last year – the team spirit – is still there.
“Our older guys have done a
tremendous job of welcoming the new players into our program and
showing them the ropes,” Godwin said. “Most of our guys were here
for summer school working out with our strength coach for about six
weeks and that made for a good transition.”
Another big boost for the
team was its academic progress. During the fall semester, 28 of the
34 players earned honor roll or better standings.
“This is a great
accomplishment by our program,” Godwin said. “Our guys worked
extremely hard and were very detail-oriented in the classroom this
fall. This is the highest team GPA of any program I have ever been
associated with throughout my coaching career.”
When the Pirates take the
field on Friday, seven positions could see returning players
trotting out to their spots. Travis Watkins (.292, 36 rbi) will be
behind the plate where he saw starting action 58 times last year.
Harman will return to first base but the rest of the infield could
see a number of changes.
Charlie Yorgen (.283, 27 rbi)
could see action either at second base or third while freshman Brady
Lloyd has been pushing for the job.
“He [Lloyd] can really run,
one of the fastest guys on the team,” Godwin said.
Shortstop could go to either
Turner Brown or Wesley Phillips. Brown is a freshman while Phillips
is a junior college transfer. Third base also is a spot that could
change with Kirk Morgan (.293, 17 rbi), Eric Tyler (.268, 27 rbi) or
Yorgen at the hot corner. Morgan started 36 games last year at
third.
In the outfield, Parker Lamm
(.238, 10 rbi) started 26 games last year and played all three
positions, although he's penciled in for left for the start of the
season. Garrett Brooks (.270, 14 rbi) will be back in center while
Jeff Nelson (.234) is slated for right.
Evan Kruczynski, the ace of
the staff last year (8-4, 3.17 ERA) is expected to be the No. 1
hurler again this year while Jacob Wolfe (5-2, 3.35) will take on
the second games on the weekends.
Jimmy Boyd (5-7, 4.73) is
currently set for the No. 3 position with Kirkpatrick in the battle
for that spot also.
Nick Durazo (5-1, 2.77) will
likely be the top relief pitcher while Joe Ingle (1-0, 1.14) is
slated for closure duty.
Despite the showing the
Pirates made last year, the rest of the AAC doesn't seem to have
much respect for the team as the coaches selected ECU to finish
fourth in the eight-team league this spring.
“I don't care (where they
vote us)” Godwin said. “They don't pass out trophies in preseason.
We don't look at that stuff. We just put our heads down and work
hard to win our first game on Feb. 19 and keep moving forward.”
Godwin does admit that the
Pirate have a grueling schedule. After opening the slate by hosting
Longwood, the Pirates will visit defending NCAA champion Virginia.
The annual Keith LeClair Classic has a strong field with
Southeastern Louisiana, Tennessee and Maryland coming in. The
Pirates also face Conference USA powerhouse Rice on the road.
In addition, ECU will play
in-state rivals N.C. State, North Carolina, UNC-Wilmington in
home-and-home games and will play single games against Duke, Elon,
High Point and Campbell.
AAC games will see Houston,
Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida visit Clark-LeClair
Stadium, while the Pirates visit Tulane, Memphis, Central Florida
and UConn.
The Pirates and Huskies also
played twice last season. Godwin said that the league wanted to play
on eight weekends, so two schools would have to play twice.
“There are some rivalries
among the rest, like Central and South Florida and Houston and
Tulane, so it was most financially reasonable for us to be paired
with UConn," said Godwin.
Whether there will be another
“Shazam” moment for the Pirate this year is about four months down
the line.
“We're looking forward to the
season,” Godwin said. “The guys are definitely ready.”
Can they win 40 games again?
“Our goal is to win 40 games
every year,” the coach said.
And that would be no “Surprise,
surprise, surprise!”