|
Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
-----
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Pirate baseball opens with
question marks
|
 |
Replay the audio
archive of Tuesday night's Brian Bailey Show,
with guests Randy Mazey and Bill
Carson:
Select clip |
|
|
�2005 Bonesville.net
Perhaps the only bad thing
about setting school records for wins (51), hits (725), doubles (153), home
runs (100) and RBI's (481) is that there is always a next year.
Next year is here, and this is
a totally different Pirate baseball team.
While most, if not all, of the
above records may be safe for this year, this is still going to be an
outstanding baseball team. East Carolina may have dropped two out of three
to the College of Charleston, but there were plenty of positives to look
forward to the rest of this baseball season.
The question marks obviously
begin on the mound. After three games, Randy Mazey is still trying to decide
just whom he can turn to when he has to get a batter out.
That was the most urgent
problem coming out of the three-game series this past weekend. The Pirates
gave up a 3-run homer on Friday in the 9th that tied the first game of the
series. East Carolina did rally to
win that game in extra innings.
In
game three, the Pirate staff gave up
a walk-off series-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth.
�I think it may be a mental
thing for a while,� said Coach Randy Mazey. �Until we get someone out in a
key spot like that, I know that the guys will be thinking about it.�
Mazey says the staff may have
lost a little confidence, but some of the problems are correctable.
�We got behind in both of
those counts,� Mazey said. �We have to be more aggressive early in the count
in those situations.�
Mazey said he�ll stick with
the same type of rotation to try and close games out.
�All of the guys pitched well
at times,� said Mazey. �We�ll use Mike Flye, T.J. Hose, and Kevin Rhodes
again. I like these guys and I think we�ll do a better job out of the pen.�
East Carolina is back in
action in Myrtle Beach, SC, this weekend for the Baseball at the Beach
Tournament.
The Pirates take on Coastal
Carolina on Friday. They play West Virginia on Saturday and then close out
the weekend with a match up against Clemson on Sunday afternoon.
International spotlight
East Carolina freshman LaShawn
Merritt continues to turn heads on a national scale and beyond.
For the second straight week,
Merritt was named the
United States Track Coaches Association Male
Athlete of the Week in NCAA Division I competition.
Merritt
won the 400 meters in a new
collegiate indoor record time this past weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
That performance also set a
new indoor world junior record and is the third-fastest indoor 400-meter
time in world history. Michael Johnson has the world record at 44.63, set in
1995, and Johnson�s 1996 time of 44.66 are the only two performances that
are faster.
Bill Carson is in his 37th
year with the Track and Field program at East Carolina. He�s worked with
some amazing athletes over almost four decades. Merritt, though, may be the
best.
�He is really something
special,� said Carson. �The BBC came over the other day to interview him.
Track is the number two sport in Europe, just behind soccer. They already
love him over there!�
Carson says Merritt handles
himself with the very best. Only the legendary Michael Johnson has run a
faster 400 indoors. The ECU track coach says Merritt is following in
Johnson�s footsteps.
�Michael Johnson was an
ambassador for the sport,� Carson said. �That�s the way LaShawn will be.
LaShawn is a good looking kid and he is going to be something.�
LaShawn Merritt may be the
next Michael Johnson. Talk about a purple and gold flash. Just think how
fast he would look on a post route for Coach Holtz!
Good riddance
Just when you think you�ve
seen it all, along comes a Marquette assistant coach to show us something
new.
In the heat of
Marquette's game with East Carolina
at Minges Coliseum's Williams Arena last Saturday night, that coach came
over to ECU's side to get into a discussion with an official and Pirate
assistant Coach Greg Herenda.
The official should have sent
the Marquette coach back to his team's side. Instead, he allowed him to hang
around long enough for Herenda to do the honors. The coach barked back, and
both teams picked up technical fouls.
How can a coach for another
team come all the way over to the other team�s bench anyway? He had no
business in Herenda�s face! Herenda did the right thing, by defending Bill
Herrion and his Pirate team.
Not that I�m condoning
violence, but Herenda should have kicked the little weasel all the way back
to Coach Tom Crean�s bench!
I, for one, am glad to see the
crybabies off the Pirate schedule. Coach Crean, ask Dwyane Wade what his
record in Williams Arena is for his career!
 Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
Click here to dig into Brian Bailey's Bonesville
archives.
02/23/2007 01:31:30 AM |
