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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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