|
BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, April 28, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
 |
All in a day's work
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
(Photos for this article,
including the image on the
front page, were submitted to Bonesville.net.)
Coach Drew Steele (left) with Brian Bailey
East Carolina baseball
coach Billy Godwin
probably had a thousand
things on his mind this
past Saturday morning.
On Tuesday, his Pirates
had rallied from six
runs down to
beat stubborn Elon.
On Wednesday, his squad
played perhaps its most
complete game all
season,
shutting out
top-ranked North
Carolina 4-0.
That win came in front
of the largest crowd to
ever watch a regular
season baseball game in
North Carolina.
Then on Friday night,
his team built a
seven-run lead, only to
watch Southern Miss chip
away and chip away. The
Pirates
held on for a 7-6 win
over the Golden Eagles.
On Saturday morning,
Coach Godwin could have
been enjoying a cup of
coffee, filling out the
first of what would be
two different line-up
cards. Saturday featured
a doubleheader courtesy
of television and CBS
College Sports.
But instead of taking a
break early on what
would be a long day of
baseball, Billy Godwin
threw what may have been
the best pitch of his
career.
Godwin was the guest of
honor for Greenville’s
Challenger baseball
league. He arrived
shortly after 9 a.m. and
stayed around talking
baseball and shaking
hands with the players
for the better part of
an hour.
Big Red Smile
He also got a chance to
speak to the group and
he told the players that
he and his team were
looking forward to May
17th, when the Pirate
baseball program will
host the Challenger
players at Clark-LeClair
Stadium for the third
annual exhibition game.
Godwin toed the rubber
and threw a perfect
strike to my buddy Drew
Steele, who serves as
one of the coaches in
the league. Drew has
teamed with Pirate
football coach Skip
Holtz to raise half a
million dollars to
refurbish Elm Street Gym
in Greenville. That
check presentation to
the City of Greenville
will come next week.
Godwin’s pitch was a
perfect strike. The
crowd roared. Drew had a
big smile and an even
bigger hug for Coach
Godwin.
The Challenger season
was underway.
Coach Billy Godwin gets
set on the mound.
Coach Godwin hurried on
off to Clark-LeClair
Stadium for that
doubleheader with
Southern Miss. The
Challenger players, as
they do each week in the
season, were able to
forget their own
individual issues and
enjoy a day of baseball.
Lou Gehrig once said,
“There is no room in
baseball for
discrimination. It is
our national pastime and
a game for all.”
You really understand
just how pure the game
is when you see the joy
on the children’s faces
in the Challenger
League.
Thanks, Coach Godwin.
You made their special
day that much more so!
Pirates move up in
rankings
Last week’s 4-1 record
nudged the Pirates up in
the
national polls.
The Pirates were ranked
as high as 21st in the
nation. Both the
National Collegiate
Baseball Writers
Association and the Ping
Baseball polls had ECU
at 21. The Pirates
actually rose eight
spots in that Ping poll.
East Carolina moved up
two slots in the USA
Today/ESPN coaches poll
to 22. Baseball America
had ECU at 25 and
Collegiate Baseball had
the Pirates at 30 this
past week.
The Pirates will start
Conference USA pitcher
of the week Kevin Brandt
tonight against Elon.
The Pirate coaches will
staff the mound in a
manner that Brandt won’t
see a lot of work.
East Carolina is at home
for the weekend with
three non-conference
games against
Louisiana-Lafayette. The
weather is expected to
be great so it should be
another big weekend on
the diamond.
BB
Send an e-mail to
Brian Bailey.
Dig into Brian Bailey's archives.
04/28/2009 03:00:44 AM |
