Pirates take chip into USF matchup

By Brian Bailey
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The East Carolina baseball team is in Clearwater, Florida, for the American Athletic Conference tournament, hoping to go back to back at the beach.

ECU won the league championship a year ago and enters this year's tournament as the number two seed. The Pirates finished just a half game behind 2016 league champion Tulane.

If ever there was an opponent that the Pirates should be able to zero in on, it’s South Florida. ECU opens the tournament against the Bulls on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

It was USF that came to Greenville two weekends ago and took two out of three from the Pirates, ultimately costing ECU the regular season title.

That puts a great big chip on the Pirates' shoulders heading into the opener.

Despite coming in as the defending champion, ECU coach Cliff Godwin says this team won’t play with any pressure.

“I think we faced the most pressure during the regular season, to be quite honest,” said Godwin. “The schedule was so hard. Going on the road to Virginia and going on the road to play Rice. We played a great Jacksonville team in the non-conference. Home and home with N.C. State and North Carolina, and Duke on the road was difficult.

"We played some tremendous opponents this year. I thought our guys felt pressure because it was tough for us to get on a roll. I don’t think our guys will feel pressure this week. I don’t think our guys will feel pressure heading into regional play.”

Monday was a day of honors in the AAC, and the Pirates picked up a couple.

Dwanya Williams-Sutton and lefty ace Evan Kruczynski were both named first-team all-conference. Catcher Travis Watkins was named to the second team.

Williams-Sutton had to be a candidate for Rookie Position Player of the Year in the American, but that award went to Houston’s Joe Davis.

Williams-Sutton led the American in hitting at .372. He also led the league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He was the Pirates' MVP in his first year.

“He has meant a lot,” said Godwin. “I don’t think any of us – including Dwanya, who’s a very soft-spoken kid who doesn’t’ know how good he can be – expected him to do what he has done this year. He has been our best player on the field as a freshman. Our guys have a tremendous amount of respect for him when he is at the plate. In the past month he has really played at a different level. It’s not just his hits or his home runs but the way that he goes about his business. He has really grown up right in front of our eyes.”

Next up it’s the American tournament and then the Pirates look to be a lock as a number two seed in the NCAA regionals. Many have ECU in Raleigh against N.C. State and two other squads. Nothing, though, is official until Memorial Day.

“That stuff means nothing,” said Godwin. “There is not one person who is on one of those web sites that knows anything. I love the guys at D1Baseball.com, but they have no idea where East Carolina is going. They have no idea who is going to be in North Carolina State’s regional. There is not one committee member leaking that information. Now one thing the committee looks at is regional proximity, so of course it’s a possibility. They have no idea. We have no idea. Last year I don’t think one media outlet had us going to Miami, and we went to Miami. You never know. We aren’t looking at that right now. We are looking forward to USF on Wednesday.”

We all are, as the Pirates take that big chip on their shoulder into their first round matchup.

BB

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