By Al Myatt
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The term student-athlete is descriptive of the players in the East Carolina baseball program and will be especially applicable over the coming days as spring semester exams coincide with a home series against Cincinnati, which is atop the American Athletic Conference standings.

The Pirates are 26-15 overall and 7-5 in the AAC . The Bearcats are 20-21 on the season and 8-4 in the league. ECU will be looking to make its home field advantage work at Clark-LeClair Stadium where the Pirates are 18-7. Cincinnati is 4-10 in away games.

ECU starts it three-game series with the Bearcats at 6:30 tonight.

The Pirates will be undergoing tests on and off the field.

"We've got a week of exams," said ECU coach Cliff Godwin. "The exams start (Thursday) and they go through next Thursday. We fly out next Thursday to go to UConn so our guys had to get some exams moved up because we fly out somewhat early on Thursday.

"Their exams are condensed into six days instead of seven like a normal student."

When the academic rigors are complete, the players' focus can narrow to baseball.

"Once school's out, it's a time for guys to just focus on baseball," Godwin said. "Really, it allows them to relax their mind a little bit, in my opinion, especially when they're in a program like ours, which stresses academics, where they need to go to class all the time. They need to make good grades and do the best they can. ... It's a time for their mind to kind of relax a little bit and they only have to focus on one thing."

The ECU baseball team hit a grand slam in terms of its fall semester grade point average.

"3.42 is like unheard of," Godwin said. "I don't foresee us having a 3.42. I do, however, foresee us having above a 3.0. Having a 3.0 spring semester with the way our travel is in the American and us getting back on Sunday nights a lot at like two or three in the morning, that's a great feat for our guys because our travel schedule is tough in the American Conference. I'll be really proud of our guys if they get a 3.0 or better. I think it's a little better than a 3.0 but they've still got exams so we've got to see how they finish."

Bearcats proving poll wrong

(The poll was voted on by the league's head coaches)

Cincinnati got eight points in the preseason poll voting which indicates the Bearcats were a unanimous choice to finish last. They obviously have been proving the preseason perception wrong.

"Preseason polls are just for people and fans to get fired up about," Godwin said. "It shows the strength of our league. I don't know where Houston (preseason favorite) is in the league because I don't look at that stuff until the end of the year, but they're one of the best teams in our conference.

"I wouldn't put a lot of weight in that (preseason poll). Cincinnati has played well but everybody is within striking distance to win the league with four weekends to play. There's a lot of baseball left out there, for sure."

Run production diminishes

Since a 15-3 home win over N.C. State in Greenville on April 19, the Pirates are 2-3 with just eight runs in those five games.

"I'm not worried about the offense," Godwin said. " ... We faced some really good arms vs. UConn. We had to face another weekend starter on Monday at N.C. State (Ryan Williamson) because they had the luxury of only playing two games on the weekend, so they could save their weekend starter for us. I'm not worried about the offense. The offense will be ready to go this weekend."

Foul ball became 3-run homer

A 6-1 loss at N.C. State on Monday hinged on a 3-run home run by the Wolfpack's Evan Mendoza in the second inning that was initially ruled a foul ball. There was nothing discernible in replays that indicated third base umpire Greg Howard had missed the call on the drive that appeared to go out to the left of the left field foul pole.

State coach Elliott Avent successfully argued with home plate umpire Greg Street and the play was ruled a home run, giving the Wolfpack a 4-1 lead.

"In my opinion, when you make a call like that, I mean it's the third base umpire's call," Godwin said. "It's his call. He was on the line. He made a call. For them to reverse the call from someone who is at a farther distance, it's not his call. That's why they have the guy at third base. In my opinion, it's not right. I don't think they handled that situation well.

"It is what it is. No one knows today if it was fair or foul. My biggest complaint was if they had called it fair, I wouldn't have argued it. But they called it foul and nobody still to this day knows if it was foul or fair. How do you overturn that call when nobody really knows? They should have stuck with their call but it is what it is. We're going to move on and be ready for this weekend."

Pitching change

Godwin pulled Monday starter Nick Durazo when the call was changed and freshman right-hander Chris Holba came in.

"I was really proud of the way that Chris Holba came in and held them at bay," Godwin said. "He could have come in and poured gas on the fire and it could have gotten ugly but he came in there and put up zeroes. Our relief pitching was really good on Monday night."

Holba allowed two hits in four innings with one earned run. He walked two and struck out two.

Freshmen Sam Lanier and Matt Bridges also had effective mound stints in Raleigh.

Resting up

The Pirates haven't had a game since the trip to State and that probably is a good thing in terms of rest and exams.

"We need to get healthy," Godwin said. "We have a lot of our guys on our team that are nicked up, banged up. We had practice (Wednesday). We've got 17 position players and it's a light practice. Only 10 guys, position players, really practiced. ... We need to get healthy.

"Parker Lamm needs to get 100 percent. Garrett Brooks needs to get 100 percent. Charlie Yorgen needs to become 100 percent. Travis Watkins needs some time off because he's caught every single day. The biggest thing this week is to get fresh, get fresh for this stretch run. Get our feet back underneath us and be ready to finish strong."

New chancellor

The new skipper of the Pirate ship, Dr. Cecil Staton, was scheduled to be on hand for a Pirate Club gathering in Raleigh on Thursday night.

Staton is a former Georgia state senator, who was Interim President at Valdosta State before being named Chancellor-elect at ECU. Staton got his doctorate from Oxford in England. That's pretty much a one-up across the board in education.

"I was on the road recruiting (Wednesday)," said Godwin, who played at ECU and graduated. "I have not had the opportunity to meet the new chancellor."

Cincinnati series

Godwin was asked what will be important for the series this weekend.

"We just need to do what we do," said the Pirates coach. "We need to continue to pitch well, continue to play good defense, continue to have quality at-bats and win pitches. These few days that we've had off are going to help our position players more than anybody else. They've had time to get off their feet. Last week was a tough stretch for us with six games in seven days, four games in three days. As much as we want to say they're prepared for it, it's just different, especially for the freshmen, like Turner Brown, to be out there every single day and playing shortstop and having to go through those mental and physical battles is tough. The biggest thing for us is just to be able to get off our feet this week."

Freshmen adjusting

In addition to the fleet of first-year pitchers who are gaining experience, Brown and outfielder Dwanya Williams-Sutton have been making successful adjustments to the college game as freshmen. Brown is hitting .286 with 22 RBIs and Williams-Sutton has a .356 average with 19 runs driven in.

Brown played for NCHSAA 1-A state championship teams at Whiteville. Williams-Sutton helped Greenfield to an NCISAA 1-A state crown.

"It is a big jump but he's handled it great," Godwin said of Brown. "He's been a staple in our lineup and at shortstop every single day. If we didn't have him, we wouldn't be where we are today. He's handled it great. Dwanya (Williams-Sutton) has handled it great. We've had a lot of young guys be able to do it. It's a big jump for Dwanya, too, coming from a private high school in Wilson. ... It's a big jump."