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Former East
Carolina standout Justin Hardy (right) was on hand at
Saturday's spring game to accept an NCAA award from head
coach Ruffin McNeill for leading the nation with 9.3
receptions per game in the 2014 campaign. (W.A. Myatt photo) |
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(Photo by W.A.
Myatt. ©Bonesville.net.) |
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View W.A. Myatt's spring game photo
gallery. |
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FOOTBALL: SPRING GAME |
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Depleted Pirates conclude spring |
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GREENVILLE — There were some conspicuous
absences as East Carolina finished spring
football with its Purple-Gold game at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Coach Ruffin McNeill noted that the mother
of defensive coordinator and secondary Rick
Smith had passed away. ...
More... |
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Pictured:
Defensive
back Travis
Phillips
goes up over
Steve
Baggett for
an
interception
in East
Carolina's
annual
intra-squad
spring game
on Saturday
afternoon.
[W.A. Myatt
photo] |
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View
W.A.
Myatt's
spring game
photo gallery... |
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BASEBALL |
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UConn evens series |
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STORRS, CT — East Carolina scored four runs
with two out in the first inning and the
Pirates went on to a 7-3 American Athletic
Conference win at Connecticut on Friday
afternoon. ...
More... |
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Next: ECU at
UConn | Sunday, 12 pm |
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BASEBALL |
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Fast start lifts ECU |
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STORRS, CT
— East
Carolina scored four runs with two out in
the first inning and the Pirates went on to
a 7-3 American Athletic Conference win at
Connecticut on Friday afternoon.
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FOOTBALL |
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Pirates turn the page |
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 The
Purple-Gold football game at Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday culminates
spring practice for East Carolina. The
Pirates have moved on from their first
season in the American Athletic Conference
to prepare for year two in the AAC. ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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BASEBALL |
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Lamm sends Pirates past ODU |
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NORFOLK — Pinch hitter Parker Lamm of East
Carolina doubled to score two runs with two
out in the top of the eighth inning and lift
the Pirates to a 4-2 nonconference win at
Old Dominion on Wednesday. ...
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: The Brian
Bailey Show |
The Brian Bailey
Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on
Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guests this
week were ECU
football coach
Ruffin McNeill and
Cutter Creek golf
professional Burt
Williams:
Replay
show... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates shut out USF |
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TAMPA, FL — Four
East Carolina
pitchers combined to
shut out South
Florida in a 6-0
American Athletic
Conference win on
Sunday. David Lucroy,
Nick Durazo, Joe
Ingle and Jimmy Boyd
limited the Bulls
(24-12, 7-2 AAC) to
a total of five hits
and totaled 11
strikeouts. ...
More... |
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BASEBALL |
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USF rolls past Pirates |
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TAMPA, FL — South Florida scored three runs
in its first at-bat and went on to a 10-0
American Athletic Conference win over
visiting East Carolina after a 75-minute
delay on Saturday night. Casey Mulholland
(4-4) pitched eight innings of the shutout.
He allowed seven hits and struck out 10. ...
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BASEBALL |
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Bulls edge ECU, 2-1 |
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TAMPA, FL — South Florida took a 2-1
American Athletic Conference win over
visiting East Carolina on Friday night on a
2-run home run by Luke Maglich in the bottom
of the fifth inning. Maglich connected with
a 2-1 pitch from Reid Love (3-3) after Luke
Borders started the inning with a single to
left field. ...
More... |
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VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
By
Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
View spring game photo gallery
Audio: Ruffin McNeill & Kurt Benkert
post-game...
GREENVILLE — There were some conspicuous absences as East
Carolina finished spring football with its Purple-Gold game at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Coach Ruffin McNeill noted that the mother of defensive
coordinator and secondary coach Rick Smith had passed away.
"He had to drive home," McNeill said. "John Wiley, my
associate head coach, took control of that. We wish Rick well. ... We
didn't lose her. We gained another angel."
Special teams coordinator Kirk Doll was in Wichita, KS,
to be inducted into his hometown's sports hall of fame.
"Ruff wouldn't let him miss that," said Tom McClellan,
ECU's assistant athletic director for media relations.
Offensive linemen Ike Harris and Tre Robertson were out
the entire spring with shoulder ailments. Harris started every game at
left tackle in 2014 as the Pirates went 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the
American Athletic Conference. Robertson started the first two games last
season at right guard and the last three games at right tackle.
On a negative note, it was announced that three players
had been dismissed from the program for team rule violations — senior
offensive lineman Will Foxx, junior running back Chris Mangus and
redshirt freshman outside linebacker/defensive lineman Markel Winters.
Foxx had seen action in eight games in his career. Mangus, a transfer
from Virginia Tech, and Winters had not seen playing time for ECU.
The dismissal of sophomore tight end Darren Dowdell had
been announced earlier this month.
Running back Cory Hunter was the latest addition to the
injury list with a head ailment.
A lot of last season's star power, quarterback Shane
Carden, receiver Justin Hardy and receiver Cam Worthy, have exhausted
their eligibility.
Hardy was on hand to receive NCAA recognition from
McNeill at halftime for averaging 9.3 catches per game last season. That
number led the Football Bowl Subdivision. Hardy had 387 career catches,
an FBS record.
Carden was Offensive Player of the Year in Conference USA
and the AAC in his last two seasons at ECU, finishing with a bundle of
school records. Like Hardy, Worthy had over 1,000 yards in receptions as
a senior.
One big question for 4,852 fans at the spring game was
how effectively Kurt Benkert will fill the void left by Carden.
Benkert directed two scoring drives against the second
defensive unit.
The first covered 65 yards at the close of the first half
and featured a 44-yard completion to Trevon Brown in a 3rd-and-6
situation. Chris Hairston scored two plays later from three yards out.
The first unit offensive group went 75 yards in six plays
to score on an 11-yard pass from Benkert to Isaiah Harris to start the
second half.
Anthony Scott had an 8-yard run to get the drive started.
Benkert hit Brandon Bishop for 11 yards before Marquez Grayson had a
23-yard run. A pass to Quay Johnson netted three yards to the defense's
19-yard line. Jones had an 8-yard reception before taking a Benkert pass
on the right side and angling to the middle of the end zone.
Benkert said the offense didn't make any adjustments at
halftime.
"We just started having fun," said the rising sophomore
quarterback.
Benkert finished with completions on 11 of 17 attempts
for 125 yards with one score and no interceptions.
Blake Kemp, the left-handed junior college transfer,
faced the first unit defense and completed six of 10 for 33 yards.
Scott led the rushing with six carries for 55 yards.
Bishop had five catches for 76 yards.
True freshman cornerback Corey Seargent had a
scrimmage-high eight tackles. Mike linebacker Zeek Bigger had four
tackles and one of eight sacks by the white-clad defenders. Third unit
defensive backs Travis Phillips and Nhyre Quinerly picked off passes.
Connor Torruella and Davis Plowman kicked extra points
after the scores by the first unit offense on their last two
possessions. The first unit defense held the second unit offense
scoreless.
Worth Gregory averaged 50.5 yards on two punts.
The offense had three penalties for false starts. The
defense drew two flags from the AAC officials.
"I was pleased today," McNeill said. "A lot of guys got
reps and that's an important evaluation opportunity for us. I saw some
of the young guys do some things well today. Penalties were a big
emphasis for us and we only had one in the second half, which was a
goal."
The Pirates coach said that strength and conditioning
under the direction of Jeff Connors would be the next phase for the
program.
ECU opens the 2015 season at home against Towson on Sept.
5.
View recap and stats on ecupirates.com
View ECU's 2015 football schedule on ecupirates.com.
