CHRONICLING EAST
CAROLINA & CONFERENCE USA
SPORTS
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View from the East
Friday, April 20, 2012
By Al Myatt |
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Smithmyer heats up Pirates' stove for
Rice
By
Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
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Andy Smithmyer |
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(ECU SID image) |
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East Carolina needed a
turnaround and some momentum going into a big Conference USA baseball
series at Rice that starts at 7:30 tonight.
The Pirates were coming
off
a 10-1 non-conference loss at home
to regional rival UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday night and were in an early
2-0 hole at Clark-LeClair Stadium to William & Mary on Wednesday night
when Andy Smithmyer came to the mound on a rescue mission.
Smithmyer
held the Tribe in check and
bought the Pirate bats some time to awaken in an eventual 13-4 ECU
victory.
The Pirates, who are
ranked No. 24 by Perfect Game USA, got a little bounce going into the
three-game set with the Owls, who are No. 14 in the same poll.
"Andy Smithmyer certainly
was the difference in the game," said ECU coach Billy Godwin. "Him
coming in and just pouring it in there, throwing strikes and putting up
zeroes kind of gave our guys some life. That was good to see. I don't
care where it comes from but it needs to come from somebody.
"He had a lot of
confidence. He was going out there and pounding the zone and keeping us
in the game. He gave our offense a chance to get back in the game. He
just kind of took over."
Smithmyer, a junior
right-hander who transferred from Potomac State, came on in relief with
two out in the opening inning and kept a 2-0 William & Mary lead from
getting any larger. He turned in six scoreless innings, allowed four
hits and struck out eight without a walk. In the process, his earned run
average dropped to a team-best 1.49 in 14 appearances.
The Pirates took control
in the bottom of the sixth when they erupted for eight runs. ECU had 16
hits with the top three in the batting order — Jack Reinheimer, Drew
Reynolds and Corey Thompson — getting three hits each.
Tyler DeLoach wasn't as
pure for the Seahawks as Smithmyer was for the Pirates as he hit four
batters and walked four over six and one-third innings in the Tuesday
contest but he got the job done as UNCW avenged a 5-0 loss to the Bucs
in the Port City on April 3.
"He was probably
effectively wild," said Godwin of UNCW's 6-foot-6 left-hander from
Roanoke Rapids. "It's hard for guys to dig in and focus on a good
pitch."
ECU had
a 14-7 win on Sunday to take two
out of three at Memphis. In compliance with NCAA rules, the Pirates had
Monday off and didn't practice the day before the UNCW game.
"The late return, getting
in at 2 (a.m.), it's tough," Godwin said. "I know it's tough on me. I'm
not a player but these guys have got to get up. They've got to go to
class. They've got exams coming up, papers due. It's a grind but it's
just part of being a student-athlete."
The grind continued
Thursday with a morning bus ride to catch a flight for the trip to
Houston. The Pirates were scheduled to work out in Rice's Reckling Park
on Thursday evening.
ECU is 26-11-1 overall and
8-3-1 in league play. The Owls are 28-11 on the season and 9-3 in C-USA.
Rice is tied for first in the league standings with Central Florida
while the Pirates are presently third.
The C-USA coaches picked
Rice first, Central Florida second and ECU third in their preseason
poll. Right now, their projections are right on target.
The Perfect Game website
is currently projecting ECU as the No. 2 seed in an NCAA Tournament
regional hosted by North Carolina that would also include Elon (No. 3)
and Monmouth (No. 4). The Pirates play the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on
Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Owls are projected as
host of a regional that would include Texas as the No. 2 seed, Texas
Christian as No. 3 and Canisius as No. 4. Of course, there is a lot of
baseball to be played in Conference USA before the NCAA Tournament
pairings are announced.
Rice is coming off a 5-4
win at No. 5 Texas A&M on Tuesday night.
The Owls have ample
tradition. They won the College World Series in 2003. Coach Wayne
Graham, who turned 76 earlier this month, will be inducted into the
College Baseball Hall of Fame in late June. Rice has seven players in
the major leagues including Lance Berkman, who helped the St. Louis
Cardinals win the World Series last fall. The Owls have a nation's best
.742 winning percentage since 1999. Rice has won or shared 16
consecutive league championships.
"Until somebody else
proves otherwise, the conference championship goes through Rice," Godwin
said. "... They're a great program. I'm excited for our guys to go in
there and compete. I keep saying I like our team. We've just got to go
in there and focus on one pitch at a time, one game at a time."
ECU will go with its
weekend rotation of senior left-hander Kevin Brandt (5-2, 1.92 ERA)
tonight, junior lefty Tyler Joyner (5-1, 2.89) on Saturday at 3 p.m. and
junior righty Jharel Cotton (6-0, 3.35) on Sunday at noon.
"It's a great opportunity
for our program," Godwin said. "We talk about winning championships.
We're halfway through the conference season. To be in that position is
great. There are a lot of clubs that aren't in that position right now.
We've got to make the most of it."
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04/25/2012 04:07 PM
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