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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
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By Brian Bailey |
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Challenges about to get
bigger for 11-3 Bucs
©2006 Bonesville.net
Sunday hasn't been all that
kind to East Carolina’s baseball team to date. The Pirates are off to an
11-3 start, but all three losses have come on Sunday.
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Replay the archive
of Monday night's Brian Bailey Show with guest
Tommy Eason, former ECU baseball player and
assistant coach and current head coach at Pitt
Community College. |
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Select clip |
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That had to be going through
ECU coach Billy Godwin’s mind this past Sunday, when Stony Brook plated a
run in the top of the 11th inning to take a 3-2 lead in the game.
This time, though, the Pirates
were up to the task. East Carolina scored the game winner in the bottom of
the frame on a bases loaded walk, ending the Sunday jinx.
Perhaps it was the black
jerseys, which I really think look sharp. Regardless, the Sunday hex is now
a thing of the past.
“The first sweep of the year
is awfully nice,” said Godwin after the 4-3 win. “Hopefully, this gets rid
of our Sunday jinx which we’ve had to start the year. We’re just real proud
of our club and how they played.”
Drew Schieber had the
game-tying hit in the eleventh inning. Shieber said the win was important
for this squad.
“It’s huge,” said Schieber.
“We’ve gone out the last three Sundays and haven’t been able to close it
out. It’s just a big step in our season to get us ready for Cal State.”
Schieber was referring to the
Pirates' upcoming weekend series at traditional powerhouse Cal
State-Fullerton.
Godwin doesn’t seem fazed that
his team’s pitching is certainly ahead of the hitting.
“We have a way to make it
interesting,” Godwin said. “We’ve done that all year. I was really proud of
our players and the way we came back, especially during the 11th inning. It
showed some character and we came up with some big hits.
"Wins like this build
character and help make us believe the when we’re down, we still have a shot
to come back and beat anybody.”
East Carolina hosts North
Carolina A&T Wednesday to wrap up what should be a 12-3 homestand to start
the 2006 season. But then the schedule stiffens a bit.
After returning home from
playing three games against 7th-ranked Cal State-Fullerton on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, the Pirates venture back out on the road for a rematch
with UNC-Wilmington.
Marist comes to town for three
games, and then it’s the third meeting of the year and second at home
against the Seahawks.
That’s followed by a trip to
Conference USA power Rice for three games and then a visit to North Carolina
State.
Godwin’s first Pirate team is
off to a good start. The first year skipper, though, will know much more
about his team by the end of March.
The view from the bottom
The good news is that the East
Carolina basketball team will be allowed to compete in the C-USA tournament
this year. The bad news is that all 12 teams in the league head to Memphis
for the postseason event this year and the Pirates are the bottom seed.
East Carolina takes on Central
Florida in the late game on Wednesday.
Conference USA announced its
all-conference team on Monday. ECU’s
Corey Rouse was selected to the second
team. Had the Pirates won a few more games, I believe Rouse would have made
the first team.
The first team consisted of
Morris Almond from Rice, Memphis star Rodney Carney, “Squeaky” Johnson from
UAB, John Tofi from Texas-El Paso and Darius Washington from the top-seeded
Tigers.
Should the Pirates pull the
upset on Wednesday, they would move on to take on 4th seed Houston in the
late game on Thursday.
Hot start for Eason and PCC
Former East Carolina assistant
coach Tommy Eason has Pitt Community College off to a 10-1 start this
season.
Pitt outscored Wilkes
Community College 35-10 in a four-game sweep this past weekend.
“We’re obviously pleased with
the start,” said Eason. “We have a lot of athletic talent on our team. We’re
getting better each day as baseball players. As the competition gets
stiffer, we’ll see if we can continue to improve and keep winning.”
Eason was my guest Monday
night on my weekly show on Talk 1070 and Cable 7. (Replay
audio archive.)
Pitt plays at Lenoir Community
College on Wednesday, and then travels to Rockingham Community College this
weekend for a four game series.
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02/23/2007 01:33:33 AM |
