Sweep sets stage for stretch run

By Brian Bailey
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East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin said his team would play even better when exams ended.

It’s all baseball now, and the Pirates opened this new stage of the year with three huge conference wins at Connecticut.

It’s known as the self-fulfilling prophecy. Godwin says it and the players adapt to it. We saw it first-hand last year in the American Athletic Conference tournament. We got a glimpse of it this past weekend in Storrs, CT.

The Pirates swept the series, their first in American play this season. It certainly wasn’t without challenges, but this East Carolina team wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It's never easy with us,” said Godwin with a grin. “Even when we have a four-run lead in the ninth we'll get the tying run to third base.”

Godwin was quick to hand out praise, because the ultimate goal is to win.

The Pirates did just that, times three.

“Our guys, when they had to, really pitched in the clutch,” Godwin added. “We got big at bats in the clutch. Kruczynski was awesome. Joe Ingle was awesome in the first two games. Jacob Wolfe was unbelievable, being able to throw a complete game with our bullpen depleted.

"And Dwanya Williams-Sutton was a beast with two home runs in two games and yesterday's three-run homer, which was the only three runs we got.”

Next up is the rematch with North Carolina. The Tar Heels put it to the Pirates, 17-4, back on March 15 in Greenville. Godwin hopes his club remembers that loss.

“If they don’t say, ‘I hope we have a better showing than last time,’ then we need to have a serious talk with them,” said Godwin. “I think it means something to them. Obviously it means a lot to our fans. It means something to me because it’s North Carolina versus East Carolina. As a player we always got fired up to play North Carolina. I hope our guys do.

"It’s not going to make or break our season but it is a rivalry and we want to be considered as one of the top baseball programs in North Carolina and we’ll need to play well tomorrow night in order to beat them.”

Win or lose against the Tar Heels, the Pirates have sights set on the AAC regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming tournament. The Pirates trail Tulane in the standings, and the Green Wave own the tiebreaker after winning the series against ECU.

“We are in good position,” said Godwin. “We still need to play well. Tulane is playing unbelievable right now and they have the tiebreaker against us, so we’ll need to play well all the way through. Our goals are right there. We talked about winning the conference and with six games to play we are in striking distance. But, we’ll need to play well.”

The Pirates will have to play well and get some help. East Carolina finishes with South Florida at home and Central Florida on the road. Tulane has Memphis at home, and then travels to preseason favorite Houston. The Cougars may not have the great record, but they do have a couple of premier arms that can beat any team in the country.

But first it’s the Tar Heels, and then the Pirates will focus back in on the race in the American.

BB

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