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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Bucs brace for New
Orleans gauntlet
By
Brian Bailey
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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East Carolina opens play in the
Entergy Conference USA Baseball Championship with a Wednesday morning
matchup against Houston.
This year's tournament is set
for Turchin Stadium, the home field of the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans.
Hopefully, the Pirates won’t bring that game three hangover from
Memphis to the Big Easy. ECU dropped the third game of the series with the
Tigers, after winning the first two games rather handily.
Next up is a Houston Cougars team that took two out of three from ECU in
Greenville in late March. The Cougars blew out ECU in the opener 14-2,
lost to the Pirates 15-4, and then took the series with an 8-5 win.
The
Pirates lead the all-time series with Houston 14-8.
ECU will face lefty Wes Musik in New Orleans. Musik is 8-4 on the season
with a 4.15 ERA and 72 strikeouts. Musik ran his record to 5-0 with that
win in March over ECU, so he finished the remainder of the regulars
season at just 3-4.
The Pirates will certainly have their work cut out for them.
They will look to freshman right-hander Seth Maness to rise to the occasion.
Maness, 9-1 with a 2.79 ERA
and 75 strikeouts, would become Conference USA's first 10-game winner in
2008 with a victory.
Rice is in
the other half of ECU's bracket, and will most likely be the Pirates'
Thursday opponent if they get past the Cougars.
Either way, the Pirates will have to beat Rice twice in order to advance
to the Conference USA championship game. That’s the advantage of the
finishing at least third, taking Rice out of the equation until that
title game.
Congrats to Pirate softball
Congratulations to the ladies of the smaller diamond at East Carolina.
The Lady Pirates won their first ever NCAA tournament game this past
weekend in the Baton Rouge Regional.
The squad was virtually shocked to get the invitation to the NCAA
tournament. ECU upgraded the team’s schedule over the last couple of
years, and that paid big dividends with the NCAA invitation.
Eason, Pitt fall just short
Former ECU star and assistant coach Tommy Eason fell just short of
leading Pitt Community College to a berth in the NJCAA World Series.
The Bulldogs dropped two out of three at Hagerstown in the district
finals. With the loss, the Bulldogs finish the season with a record of
41-15.
Coach Eason did a nice job, and Pirate fans can certainly be proud of a
guy who definitely bleeds purple.
Big night for prep baseball
It’s also a busy time for the high school teams in our area. Tonight is
the fourth round of the state playoffs, the Eastern semifinals.
South Central was just 9-14 on the regular season, but the Falcons have
reeled off three straight wins to advance to the Eastern semis. South
Central travels to rival D.H. Conley tonight in 3-A play.
The other half of the 3-A bracket features Fike against Rocky Mount.
J.H. Rose is at home at Guy Smith Stadium tonight. The Rampants are 23-3
and host Leesville Road with a berth in the Eastern finals on the line.
There are plenty of games to choose from so get out tonight and support
the team in your area. Here's the lineup:
4-A
EAST
Leesville Road (17-8) at Greenville Rose (23-3)
Wilmington Hoggard (20-4) at Raleigh Sanderson (17-6)
WEST
North Davidson (23-3) at Charlotte Ardrey Kell (25-4)
Charlotte Providence (20-8) at South Caldwell (24-1)
3-A
EAST
South Central (12-14) at D.H. Conley (17-9)
Rocky Mount (22-5) at Wilson Fike (21-4)
WEST
Mooresville (21-5) at East Rowan (25-2)
South Point (18-8) at Rutherfordton-Spindale Central (24-3)
2-A
EAST
South Lenoir (22-3) at Whiteville (16-6)
Hillsborough Orange (21-3) at North Lenoir (21-1)
WEST
Starmount (16-9) at Ledford (23-6)
East Rutherford (19-8) at Lenoir Hibriten (20-5)
1-A
EAST
Princeton (16-10) at Williamston (18-7)
Hampstead Topsail (20-6) at Heidi Trask (11-13)
WEST
Bishop McGuinness (10-13) at South Stokes (21-5)
Polk County (17-5) at Cherryville (19-7)
BB
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05/20/2008 03:21:18 AM |
