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Audio: Brian Bailey
Show |
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The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250
   on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. Brian's
guests this week were
ECU pitching coach
Dan Roszel (left),
Kinston High School
basketball coach
Perry Tyndall (near
right) and Kinston
High School
basketball star
Brandon Ingram (far
right):
Replay
show... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates sweep UCF |
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GREENVILLE — A four-run first inning that
included a three-run homer by Luke Lowery
put East Carolina ahead to stay as the
Pirates completed an American Athletic
Conference sweep of Central Florida with a
6-5 win at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Sunday.
...
More... |
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Next: ECU at
Liberty | Wednesday, 3 pm |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates hold off UCF, take series |
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STORRS, CT — East Carolina reliever Joe
Ingle struck out Central Florida's Dylan
Moore on a full count pitch with two out in
the top of the ninth inning on Saturday with
two runners in scoring position as the
Pirates took a 3-2 American Athletic
Conference win at Clark-LeClair Stadium ...
More... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates nip UCF in 10 |
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STORRS, CT — Eric Tyler's two-out RBI single
up the middle on Friday night provided East
Carolina with its third straight walkoff win
at Clark-LeClair Stadium. ...
More... |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Recruiting Wars: Wide Receivers |
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 Few
Football Bowl Subdivision coaching staffs
have done a better job identifying and
developing wide receiver talent than East
Carolina during the five seasons under
Ruffin McNeill's guidance. ...
More from Sammy Batten... |
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Recruiting Wars:
QB |
RB |
WR/TE | OL
| DE | NT | LB | DB |
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BASEBALL |
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ECU edges Blue
Devils in 10th |
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GREENVILLE — For the
third time in as
many games, East
Carolina produced
the winning run in
its last at-bat,
nipping Duke 3-2 in
10 innings on
Wednesday night at
Clark-LeClair
Stadium. ...
More... |
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates top N.C.
State in thriller |
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 GREENVILLE
— After
N.C.
State
took a
5-4 lead
in the
top of
the
ninth
inning
on a
two-run
homer by
Chance
Shepard,
East
Carolina
came
back to
score
twice in
the
bottom
of the
frame
for a
6-5
nonconference
victory
at
Clark-LeClair
Stadium
on
Tuesday
night.
Reid Love led off
the bottom of the
ninth with a triple
to right center and
Eric Tyler drew a
walk. A towering fly
ball to left by Luke
Lowery was
misplayed, allowing
Love to score the
tying run. Lowery
was credited with a
sacrifice fly on the
play that put
runners at first and
second.
Kirk Morgan singled
down the right field
line on a 1-1 pitch
to score Tyler with
the winning run. ...
Story & pictures... |
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Pictured: East
Carolina senior
co-captain Reid Love
and head coach Cliff
Godwin celebrate
after Love's leadoff
triple in the bottom
of the ninth set the
stage for the
Pirates to mount a
dramatic rally
against N.C. State
Tuesday night at
Clark-LeClair
Stadium. (Photo by
W.A. Myatt) |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Right answers seal deal with QB |
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Reid
Herring headed to Greenville last weekend
ready to make a verbal commitment to play
for the East Carolina Pirates. But first the
Raleigh, NC, quarterback had two questions
to ask ECU's new offensive coordinator, Dave
Nichol. ...
More from Sammy Batten... |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
On Monday of this past week I asked first year East Carolina baseball
coach Cliff Godwin what a 5-0 week would mean to his program.
In typical coach-speak fashion, Godwin gave me the ole ‘we take them one
a time’ speech.
Sunday’s
win over Central Florida gave ECU that perfect week.
Five one-run wins. Two victories over Atlantic Coast Conference teams.
Three wins over 24th-ranked UCF. Godwin could only smile.
“Did you really ask that on Monday?” he grinned and asked.
This time Godwin didn’t have to say a lot. The smile spoke volumes.
In his first year, Cliff Godwin has his team tied for first in the
American Athletic Conference as the calendar flips to May. The RPI
(ratings percentage index), which plays such a big role in determining
which teams make the NCAA regionals, is under fifty and getting lower.
Perhaps things are coming around sooner than expected.
Godwin isn’t worried about the prize down the road. He knew his team
would play hard this season. That hard play has translated into
victories. The program’s goal, even in its first year, hasn’t changed.
So what does that 5-0 week mean to this program?
“It means that we’ve been playing well and we have momentum going,” said
Godwin. “The expectations of this program are not just to go 5-0 and
beat two ACC teams. The expectation is to go to Omaha and that’s what we
talk about all the time. Yes, this was a step in the right direction,
but we have to keep winning games to put ourselves in position to play
in post-season.”
The players agreed with their coach.
Luke Lowery hit a three-run home run in Sunday’s win over UCF. That
four-run first was the key to getting that sweep over the Knights.
“Coach Godwin always preaches energy on Sunday,” said Lowery. “The team
that is going to have the most energy is the team that is going to win
and that’s what we try to do. We
did it at UConn. We had a big game last Sunday against
them. We try to come out here and pounce on the opposing team early.”
The Pirates certainly did pounce on Sunday, only to hang on to dear
life. Just when it looked like they would finally win a relatively easy
game, the Knights rallied against a tired ECU bullpen.
Story continues
below the following ad...
“Did you think it was going to be easy?” Godwin asked the media after
the game. “Really, did you really think it was going to be easy? Yeah,
you weren’t expecting that? They are a good team. They were ranked in
the top ten early in the year. You don’t get ranked in the top ten by
accident and it’s tough to hold them down.”
The Pirates get another shot to improve their RPI with a visit to
Liberty this week. East Carolina
dropped a one-run decision to the Flames back in
February in the Keith LeClair Classic.
It’s really hard to believe that the Pirates host their last home
American series this coming weekend with UConn in town. The Pirates took
two out of three from the Huskies in Storrs just last week. UConn and
East Carolina play two separate series as a part of the American’s
scheduling plan to give each team 24 conference games.
After 15 league contests the Pirates are in a four-way tie for first
with Memphis, South Florida and Houston. ECU will take on the Cougars in
Houston before playing at Cincinnati to close out the American slate.
Winning close games is an art form that the Pirates have certainly
perfected of late.
Learning how to win close games is often half the battle. Winning
programs do it best.
You can’t do it much better than the Pirates did this past week.
BB
