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NEWS, NOTES &
COMMENTARY
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The Bradsher Beat
Friday, May 30, 2008
By Bethany Bradsher |
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'Diamond Dance' by the numbers
By
Bethany Bradsher
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
OK, I’m being transparent here. It’s the eve of
the NCAA Championship Tournament, and I just don’t feel the thrill.
Maybe it’s because I’m not even sure if I should
call it “May Mania” or “June Jubilee.”
Maybe it’s because there are 16 No. 1 seeds and
no one higher than a 4, so the Cinderellas look like everyone else at the
ball.
Or maybe it can be summarized in two simple
words: no pools.
So, even though we don’t
have multiple copies of brackets lying all over the house and even though
the format tends to rob it of some drama, I will still salute the baseball
bracket, and I promise to give it just one more cutesy nickname. Here, the
Big Diamond Dance by the numbers:
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Nine: The number of
NCAA Regionals in which the Pirates have appeared in the past 10 years,
excepting only 2006.
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Two: East Carolina’s
total number of trips to the NCAA Super Regional level, in 2001 and
2004. The Diamond Bucs have never won a game at a Super Regional.
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Eight: The number of
teams in the field of 64 that are from Texas and California, the
best-represented states in the event. North Carolina isn’t far behind
with six teams playing (East Carolina, North Carolina, Elon, UNC-Wilmington,
North Carolina State and UNC-Charlotte.)
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588: The number of
wins notched by Alabama coach Jim Wells in his career. The winningest
coach in Tide history, Wells hopes to extend the trend against East
Carolina tonight.
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96: The number of
hits collected by freshman Crimson Tide shortstop Josh Rutledge, who is
leading the SEC in that category.
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16-32: The season
record of Texas Southern, the losingest team in the NCAA tournament
field.
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77: The number of
strikeouts credited to ECU freshman Seth Maness, who was named a
third-team All-American on Thursday. Maness is the 18th Pirate in school
history to make an All-American roster.
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1.77: The difference
in ERA between Friday’s two starting pitchers in the Conway Regional.
Maness, representing the Pirates, has a 2.87 while Alabama’s Austin
Hyatt takes the mound with a 4.64.
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15: In dollars, the
price to buy tickets to ECU’s single games at this weekend’s regional.
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5: The number of
times ECU has played a regional in either North or South Carolina in the
past decade.
So, fill out those
brackets and remember this: No one ever went from a March Madness basketball
game straight to the beach or got a killer tan in the cheap seats.
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05/30/2008 01:47:51 AM |
