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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, May 12, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Resident seeding guru maps out
scenarios
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina is set to
close out the regular
season this week with a
road game at UNC-Wilmington
and three home games
with Memphis.
The Pirates enter the
week a strong second
seed in the upcoming
NCAA regionals,
according to former East
Carolina coach Gary
Overton.
Coach “O” is our
resident expert on the
field. He and nine
others comprise the NCAA
Baseball Tournament
Selection Committee.
He’ll spend a week in
Indianapolis to help set
the field for the
upcoming NCAA regionals.
He also took time out
to join me on the
radio on
Monday night.
“It’s only my opinion,”
said Coach Overton, "but
I believe the Pirates
have to win the
Conference USA
tournament, or win the
regular season title in
Conference USA to have a
chance (at hosting).”
The other side of the
coin says the Pirates
also have to move into
the top 16 in the nation
in the rankings. RPI’s
and strength of
schedules both come into
play.
“The good news is that
the Pirates are in (the
tournament),” said
Overton. “Right now they
are a strong number two
seed. If they finish
strong they could slip
in and still be a host
team in the regionals.
But again, they have a
lot of work to do.”
Overton also said the
committee will certainly
look at a club’s last 15
games. Those last 15
include a team’s run in
their respective
tournament.
The Pirates will be
favored to do well in
Hattiesburg. Conference
USA utilizes a pair of
double elimination
tournaments to determine
the two finalists for
the televised
championship game. The
Pirates wouldn’t see
Rice until the
championship game.
Coach “O” stressed that
the NCAA Committee’s job
is to try and balance
the regionals. That
balance is more of a
competitive balance as
opposed to a regional
balance. If it takes
sending an ECU out west
to best balance a
regional, then the NCAA
will do that.
The season is down to a
handful of games, but
there is still plenty on
the line.
What the Pirates need is
a nice winning streak to
end the year. A little
eight-game winning
streak would give the
Pirates a C-USA title
and most likely that
host spot in the
regionals.
Overton said he didn’t
think there was a
scenario that would give
the Pirates a host roll
as a number two seed. He
said that might happen
with a Big Ten school or
someone else out in the
Midwest.
For Coach “O” and the
rest of the selection
committee, it’s an
interesting two weeks to
come. The Pirates need a
strong push to make
their case for an NCAA
regional at Clark-LeClair
Stadium.
The largest crowd to
ever see a regular
season game in North
Carolina is
one of the highlights
of 2009.
It would be nice to
follow that up with the
largest crowd to ever
see a postseason game in
our state.
The Pirates are on the
outside looking in as
far as hosting goes. But
in baseball, all you can
really ask for is a
chance. The Pirates do
have a chance.
BB
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Brian Bailey.
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05/12/2009 02:53:11 AM |
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