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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 3, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Imperfect weekend
had its high points
By
Brian Bailey
�2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
March certainly came in
like a lion at Clark-LeClair
Stadium. Instead of a
leisurely weekend of
baseball, we were
relegated to 27 innings
slammed into 26 hours.
We did get some great
baseball, but it�s a
real shame that the
weather wouldn�t
cooperate.
On Thursday night, in a
prelude to the Keith
LeClair Classic, East
Carolina came from six
runs down
to beat 11th-ranked
Oklahoma State.
There was certainly a
higher power at work on
both days at Clark-LeClair
Stadium. On Thursday
night, the Pirates still
trailed 7-4 going to the
home half of the
seventh. That�s when ECU
officials held a moment
of silence to honor
former Greenville Mayor
Les Garner, who was
fixture at Pirate games
singing �Take me out to
the ball game� for the
seventh inning stretch.
Garner
passed away last
weekend
shortly after attending
a Pirate baseball game.
Garner�s rendition of
the song for the seventh
inning stretch was
played from a recording
as a part of the brief
ceremony.
The Pirates then went
out and put an
eight-spot on the
stunned Cowboys. The
Pirates pounded out five
straight hits on their
way to blowing open a
close game. Les would
have certainly been
proud.
Add in true freshman
Kevin Brandt�s
performance and it was a
night to remember for
sure. Brandt came on in
relief of Sthil Sowers
and tossed 6 1/3 shutout
innings, giving up only
three hits.
On Friday, the Pirates
played a pair of games,
beating St. John�s
in the opener but
falling to Oklahoma
State in
the rematch.
The Friday story was
Brandon Henderson. The
player honored with the
number 23 for former
Coach Keith LeClair put
on a great show.
In two games, Henderson
was 5-9 with six RBI�s.
His three-run home run
against Oklahoma State
gave the Pirates a late
lead that they failed to
hang on to.
Henderson was excited
about playing so well
while wearing the number
23 in the Keith LeClair
Classic.
�It felt great to come
out and play well,� said
Henderson. �I struggled
last night (in the
Thursday night win over
Oklahoma State) but I
came out early and
worked with Coach (Link)
Jarrett and we got it
fixed. It really felt go
to play so well for
Coach LeClair.�
Both Henderson and Coach
Billy Godwin liked the
heart they saw in this
Pirate squad.
�They�re not going to
quit,� said Godwin. �I
think that was pretty
evident when we were
down 7-1 against
Oklahoma State and then
3-0 in the game with St.
John�s. We go down 2-0
in this game with
Oklahoma State, but we
kept responding, and
that�s a sign of a good
club.
"I couldn�t be any more
pleased. Things (in the
second game against
Oklahoma State) just
didn�t fall our way
tonight.�
�We�re going to compete
until the game is over,�
Henderson added. �We�re
never out of a game. To
come out here and get
down early in all of the
games we played and to
come back, it�s fun.
We�re getting there.�
Even with Saturday�s
rain, officials had
hoped to get in some
baseball on Sunday. The
entire weekend, however,
was a washout and the
rest of this great event
had to be cancelled.
Coach Godwin was
obviously disappointed.
�We want to play,� said
Godwin. �It�s baseball
season and we want to
play. We�re just hoping
this rain will get out
of here and we get to
play.�
The rain and cold
weather lingered, so
there was no more
baseball. In fact, on
Monday officials
announced that Tuesday�s
game with Old Dominion
would be moved to
Wednesday.
Hopefully, since it came
in like a lion, March
will go out like a lamb!
BB
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03/03/2009 03:32:17 AM |
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