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BASEBALL |
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Thursday: ECU at
Cincinnati, 6 pm |
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Friday: ECU at
Cincinnati, 6 pm |
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Saturday: ECU at
Cincinnati, 11 am |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates shut out Elon |
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GREENVILLE
— East
Carolina
took a
7-0
nonconference
win over
Elon on
Senior
Night at
Clark-LeClair
Stadium
on
Tuesday
night.
The game
was
shortened
to seven
innings
because
of
threatening
weather.
Pirate
seniors
Hunter
Allen
and Reid
Love had
productive
performances
...
More... |
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Next: ECU at
Cincinnati |
Thursday, 6 pm |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Recruiting Wars: Offensive Line |
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 East
Carolina will suffer some of its most
significant personnel losses after next
season on the offensive line, and starting
to fill those voids is a priority as the
Pirates pursue the recruiting Class of 2016.
...
More from Sammy Batten... |
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Recruiting Wars:
QB |
RB |
WR/TE |
OL | DL | LB | DB |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Thumbnail sketch: WR Tahj Deans |
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 Southern
Nash star Tahj Deans has solid credentials
as a defender but is projected as a wide
receiver at East Carolina after committing
to join the Pirates' recruiting class of
2016. ...
Thumbnail sketch... |
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BASEBALL |
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Short and sweet for Cougars |
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HOUSTON —
Houston moved into first place in the
American Athletic Conference with a 11-1 win
in seven innings over visiting East Carolina
on Sunday afternoon. ...
More... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates bounce back |
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HOUSTON — East
Carolina bounced back to top Houston 4-1 on
Saturday and regain a share of the American
Athletic Conference lead. ...
More... |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Ruff wins over star recruit and mom |
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Brian
Foster has worked at
Southern Nash High School in
Bailey, NC, for so long he's
coaching the children of his
former athletes. One of
those is the latest star
football player for the
FireBirds and newest member
of East Carolina's
recruiting Class of 2016.
...
More from Sammy Batten... |
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By
Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
East Carolina officially celebrated Senior Night with
a 7-0 win over Elon at Clark-LeClair
Stadium on Tuesday night.
There have been numerous senior afternoons and evenings
for the Pirates throughout the 2015 season because Hunter Allen and Reid
Love have played such big roles for a team that is challenging for the
American Athletic Conference regular season championship as it starts a
three-game league series at Cincinnati at 6 tonight.
Senior Night seems to be a recurring theme, kind of like
the routine for Bill Murray's character in the movie, Groundhog Day, but
ECU coach Cliff Godwin isn't looking to escape the routine of
contributions from his dynamic upperclass duo.
"They're our heart beat," Godwin said. "They're our two
captains. What they've done on the field obviously has been huge. Hunter
is hitting in the leadoff spot for us and has been our spark plug,
played a tremendous shortstop. Reid Love is one of the best two-way guys
in the country. He's hitting in the three hole for us and pitching
pretty much every big game that we need to win. He comes up and gets a
big start for us.
"There's obviously that
part, the baseball stuff. The other stuff is just being leaders by
example. They're not vocal guys but they go about their business the
right way on and off the field. They're tremendous ambassadors for East
Carolina baseball and East Carolina University."
Allen leads ECU with a
.345 average. Love is hitting .303 with three homers and 18 RBIs.
Love pitched eight
innings Saturday in
a 4-1 win at Houston,
the only ECU victory in a series that was bookended by
a 10-1 Cougars win on
Friday and
an 11-1 Houston triumph
in seven innings on Sunday. The Pirates are a game behind the
first-place Cougars in the AAC standings.
"He just went out there
and did what Reid has done for his past four or five starts," Godwin
said. "He gave us eight innings and gave up one run. He just allowed us
to score enough to win. The guys have a lot of confidence when he's
pitching. They feel like they're going to win when he's on the mound.
That's because of the way he's pitched this year."
Love, a left-hander, is
6-3 with a 2.69 earned run average. He picked up four saves when the
Pirates needed him in a closer's role earlier this season. He has 62
strikeouts in 73 and two-thirds innings with nine walks.
ECU is 33-20 overall and
12-9 in the AAC in Godwin's first season as head coach at his alma
mater.
Love went 5-3 with a
3.02 ERA as a junior for the Pirates in 2014 after transferring from St.
Johns River State College in Florida.
"The biggest thing I
think has changed from last year to this year for him is his mentality,"
Godwin said of Love. "He's enjoying it more. He's enjoying the
competition more instead of putting so much pressure on himself."
The approach going into
tonight is pretty much as it has been for the Pirates for 53 previous
games.
"We need to win," said
the ECU skipper during a layover in Washington, DC, early Wednesday
afternoon. "The mindset is to win (tonight) and then we'll worry about
Friday when it gets here. Reid's going to pitch (tonight). He's going to
be on short rest but we wanted to make sure he'd be available for the
conference tournament to be able to pitch game one or game two."
The AAC Tournament gets
under way Tuesday in Clearwater, FL.
Godwin plans to start
Evan Kruczynski on Friday and Jacob Wolfe on Saturday.
Designated hitter Luke
Lowery has pushed his home run total for the season to 12 with a recent
surge. He's the team RBI leader with 43. Godwin adjusted Lowery's stance
going into the season but said the recent productivity has not resulted
from any tweaks.
"Home run hitters go in
streaks," Godwin said. "He had a little while where he was hitting more
doubles and singles than he was home runs. He's hit three home runs I
guess in four games. Baseball is a game of ups and downs. He has found
it right now but we haven't done anything to his swing."
The players have
completed their academic responsibilities for the time being.
"It's the best time of
the year for a baseball player because it's all baseball," Godwin said.
"You don't have to worry about studying for exams like they did last
week or getting papers done. It's just baseball. We're on a long road
trip here, going to Cincinnati and then going to the conference
tournament. They don't have any worries about academics. ... Sometimes,
I think that can affect 'em because it is a big deal in our program to
make sure you do well in school."
The Bearcats are 15-36
overall and 6-15 in the AAC. They've lost six straight, their last win
coming on May 2 when they clinched a series with Memphis by virtue of a
5-4 triumph in 12 innings.
Cincinnati is 10-11 at
home on the synthetic surface of Marge Schott Stadium, where the Pirates
were scheduled to work out on Wednesday evening. ECU holds an 8-3-1 lead
in the series from the time when both programs competed in Conference
USA.
The Bearcats have Senior
Night planned for Friday's 6 p.m. game. Pitcher Ryan Atkinson is UC's
lone senior. Former UC great and retiring major league performer Kevin
Youkilis, a World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox, will be
honored by the retirement of his No. 36 jersey before a noon matchup
with the Pirates on Saturday.
"I'm sure it will be a
big crowd for that," Godwin said. "They're going to play hard. They're
not packing in the season by any stretch of the matter. We need to play
our best baseball. They've won two series at home this year with Memphis
and (Central Florida)."
There’s
a price to winning in college sports. And
it’s a lot more expensive than just hard
work, dedication and all those other noble
traits we love to talk about. It takes
money. Lots of money. ...