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RECRUITING |
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ECU working on two recruiting
crops |
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(nwccrangers.com) |
(sfgate.com) |
(247sports.com) |
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East
Carolina is having ongoing success
luring talent to both its 2016 and
2017 recruiting classes. Decorated
junior college quarterback
Gardner
Minshew (left) and
Cal-Berkeley graduate transfer
running back
Jeffrey
Coprich (middle) will be
eligible to play for the Pirates
this fall, while Ohio prep lineman
John Spellacy
(right) is the most recent addition
to the recruiting class of 2017. |
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BASEBALL |
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Williams-Sutton, Wolfe power
sweep |
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STORRS, CT — Dwanya
Williams-Sutton hit a three-run
homer and Jacob Wolfe pitched
the first complete game of his
career as East Carolina
completed a three-game American
Athletic Conference sweep at
Connecticut with a 3-2 win
Sunday.
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Next: ECU at North Carolina |
Tuesday, 6 pm |
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GENERAL |
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Varner finishes one-under |
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CHARLOTTE — Harold Varner III
shot an even-par 72 for the
final round of the Wells Fargo
Championship at Quail Hollow on
Sunday. The former East Carolina
golfer finished at one-under par
287, which put him in a four-way
tie for 24th. ...
More from
Al Myatt...
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GENERAL |
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Varner at one-under after 54
holes |
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CHARLOTTE — Former East Carolina
golfer Harold Varner III shot a
two-over par 74 on Saturday for
a 54-hole total of 215 in the
Wells Fargo Championship at
Quail Hollow. Varner was in a
tie for 19th with 16 other
players, including Rory McIlroy
and Phil Mickelson ...
More from
Al Myatt...
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BASEBALL |
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Pirates take pair at UConn |
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STORRS, CT — East Carolina took
a 4-3 win over Connecticut on
Saturday in a game that was
suspended on Friday and followed
up by downing the Huskies 11-9
in Saturday's
regularly-scheduled contest.
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BASEBALL |
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Day games at UConn |
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 Connecticut's
J.O. Christian Field is sort of
the Wrigley Field of yesteryear
among college baseball
facilities. There are no lights
so the series opener for East
Carolina and the Huskies is at 3
p.m. today.
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More from Al Myatt...
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By
Brian Bailey
©2016 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE
ALPHA VERSION OF THIS PAGE
East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin said his team would
play even better when exams ended.
It’s all baseball now, and the Pirates opened this
new stage of the year
with three huge conference wins at Connecticut.
It’s known as the self-fulfilling prophecy. Godwin
says it and the players adapt to it. We saw it first-hand last year in
the American Athletic Conference tournament. We got a glimpse of it this
past weekend in Storrs, CT.
The Pirates swept the series, their first in American
play this season. It certainly wasn’t without challenges, but this East
Carolina team wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It's never easy with us,” said Godwin with a grin.
“Even when we have a four-run lead in the ninth we'll get the tying run
to third base.”
Godwin was quick to hand out praise, because the
ultimate goal is to win.
The Pirates did just that, times three.
“Our guys, when they had to, really pitched in the
clutch,” Godwin added. “We got big at bats in the clutch. Kruczynski was
awesome. Joe Ingle was awesome in the first two games. Jacob Wolfe was
unbelievable, being able to throw a complete game with our bullpen
depleted.
"And Dwanya Williams-Sutton was a beast with two home
runs in two games and yesterday's three-run homer, which was the only
three runs we got.”
Next up is the rematch with North Carolina. The Tar
Heels
put it to the Pirates, 17-4, back on March 15 in
Greenville. Godwin hopes his club remembers that loss.
“If they don’t say, ‘I hope we have a better showing
than last time,’ then we need to have a serious talk with them,” said
Godwin. “I think it means something to them. Obviously it means a lot to
our fans. It means something to me because it’s North Carolina versus
East Carolina. As a player we always got fired up to play North
Carolina. I hope our guys do.
"It’s not going to make or break our season but it is
a rivalry and we want to be considered as one of the top baseball
programs in North Carolina and we’ll need to play well tomorrow night in
order to beat them.”
Win or lose against the Tar Heels, the Pirates have
sights set on the AAC regular season title and the top seed in the
upcoming tournament. The Pirates trail Tulane in the standings, and the
Green Wave own the tiebreaker after
winning the series against ECU.
“We are in good position,” said Godwin. “We still
need to play well. Tulane is playing unbelievable right now and they
have the tiebreaker against us, so we’ll need to play well all the way
through. Our goals are right there. We talked about winning the
conference and with six games to play we are in striking distance. But,
we’ll need to play well.”
The Pirates will have to play well and get some help.
East Carolina finishes with South Florida at home and Central Florida on
the road. Tulane has Memphis at home, and then travels to preseason
favorite Houston. The Cougars may not have the great record, but they do
have a couple of premier arms that can beat any team in the country.
But first it’s the Tar Heels, and then the Pirates
will focus back in on the race in the American.
BB
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30
p.m. Brian's guest this week was
Pirate Radio Network color
commentator and former ECU
baseball coach Gary Overton
(right):
