[Editor's Note: The following Pirate Notebook Special, by Denny O'Brien, is
Part Two of two parts. The first installment of this special
feature about East Carolina baseball coach Randy Mazey was published on
Wednesday and can be viewed by clicking here...]
Randy Mazey is very outspoken about his goals for the East Carolina
baseball program.
Conference USA championships, NCAA No. 1 seeds, trips to Omaha, and
national titles are all on his agenda, which is comprised of an ambitious list of To Do's he would like to check off
one by one in the near future.
Apparently, though, the first-year Pirates coach also has a plan which
extends beyond East Carolina and Harrington Field. Mazey, who has been
coaching at the Division-I level since 1990, is calling for radical changes
in the college game.
"College baseball needs some help," Mazey said. "It's going in the right
direction as far as the facilities and everything, but that's coming from
within. That's coming from the Universities. That's not coming from the
outside.
"I think somebody needs to take a real serious look at college baseball
and analyze this thing and figure out what's best for the sport."
Checking in with the Pirates coach might be a good start.
While college football and basketball have flourished as revenue sports
that attract overflow crowds and boast lucrative television deals, baseball
has floundered. Most Division-I programs struggle to attract more than 500
fans on a daily basis, making baseball a major financial burden at most
schools.
Mazey, who is a baseball purist, says there is a simple way to address
that issue.
"I think what it's going to take for this to be a revenue sport is for
the (NCAA) to make college baseball a summertime sport," he said. "I don't
think it's right to have a college sport like baseball be literally unfair
for half of the country. Half of the country just does not have the
facilities. They can't play early in the season like the teams in Florida
and Arizona."
By the time East Carolina takes the field this afternoon for its opener
against Western Carolina, Arizona State will have played 15 games. Arizona
and Florida State have already played six games apiece.
By comparison, both Seton Hall and Connecticut open their seasons
February 21, with each having its schedule front-loaded with road games in
warmer climates.
Mazey says he would like to see the season begin following the final exam
period in early May and run until August, bringing true meaning to the term
"Boys of Summer." As it is now, players in the north must deal with the
painful sting produced by aluminum bats in frosty weather for at least half
the season.
To avoid that scenario, most northern high school stars migrate to the
south, further accentuating an uneven balance in the college game today.
"They (northern schools) can't recruit those northern kids," he said.
"All the northern kids who are serious about playing college baseball go to
programs in the south.
"Half the country is fighting a losing battle in this sport. If I had
more of a voice in college baseball, I would like to see that changed.
There's no reason it can't be changed. I hate to see these minor league
programs drawing 9,000-10,000 people a game and college baseball programs
averaging 200-300 a game."
Moving the season back could also boost college baseball's television
appeal. Outside of local and regional networks, college baseball receives
hardly any national television exposure, with the lone exception being the
College World Series.
With warmer weather, Mazey says fan interest would increase, with
baseball not having to compete with college basketball at any point during
the season.
There are other advantages, too, such as the benefits student athletes
would reap from taking full course loads in the spring semester and the
additional hours that can be earned during summer sessions. Since baseball
consumes more time out of class than most sports, players have to scale down
their hours during the season.
By and large, players don't play catch-up on their academics during the
summer, either, with wooden-bat organizations like the Cape Cod and Coastal
Plain leagues offering players an opportunity to improve their game over the
summer.
According to Mazey, all that could be corrected if the powers that be
would listen.
"Every time it comes to a vote across the country," Mazey says, "usually
the northern teams vote to move it back and the southern teams vote to keep
it where it is because they have the advantage. You never get anywhere.
"I think the coaches out there, instead of looking at what's best for
(them) and (their) program, need to look at what's best for this sport. I
would love to see that happen."
Immediate issues
In the meantime, Mazey maintains his focus on things he can control, such
as the Pirates' goals of winning a conference championship and punching a
ticket to Omaha.
For that to happen this year, the Pirates must replace several everyday
players, including the core of their defense. Centerfielder Warren Gaspar,
second baseman Jed Sorenson, and catcher Clayton McCullough are gone, but
Mazey doesn't seem concerned about filling their voids.
Ryan Jones will shift over to center with Kevin O'Sullivan the likely
starter at second. Mazey says John Poppert throws as well as any catcher he
has coached, so there shouldn't be a defensive drop off behind the plate
this season, either.
However, Mazey is having some anxiety regarding pitching, where the
Pirates lost two weekend starters, including staff ace Sam Narron.
"We didn't sign any left-handed pitching to replace Sam Narron, which
concerns me a lot," Mazey said. "Davey (Penny) is probably the most talented
guy on the staff, but more goes into being a No. 1 pitcher than talent and
we're hoping Davey can fill that role because he has been successful in the
past.
"We've got four guys that are all capable in Davey Penny, Neal Sears,
Will Brinson, and Glenn Tucker. Those are four senior pitchers who all have
a great deal of experience and have been successful. We're going to let
those guys battle it out. They're going to pitch the majority of our
innings. It's going to be an interesting battle between those four to see
how it all turns out."
Sears performed the most consistently of all the Pirates' pitchers last
season, but did so coming out of the bullpen where he has spent much of his
career. Tucker is also career reliever.
With four right-handed starters, ECU desperately needs a couple of
southpaws to contribute valuable innings, or foes will heavily load their
lineups with left-handed bats. So far, it's the right-handers who have shown
the most promise in preseason.
"We've got some depth, but there's going to be a little bit of a drop off
from those four to the next guy we bring in," Mazey said. "Of course, we've
got Greg Bunn who has proven himself as a pretty good closer. He's very
talented.
"Then, it's just a bunch of hardworking guys — overachievers — who are
going to have to pitch well to be successful. Scott Green is going to be
very important for us."
Mazey spent much of the fall and a lot of the spring searching for a
couple of powerful bats to protect No. 3 hitter Darryl Lawhorn. Jason
Tourangeau, a former pitcher, emerged as a dark horse during the fall and
could become the Pirates' everyday DH.
Lawhorn's versatility in the field has also enabled Mazey to try several
defensive combinations in an attempt to find more offense. First baseman
Ryan Norwood and third baseman Mark Minicozzi can also provide long-ball
support, meaning Lawhorn may move to right field.
"We started fall practice looking for that (clean-up) guy, but we don't
know that we've found him yet," Mazey said. "Ryan Norwood is a candidate.
He's a big, power-hitting first baseman who can hit the ball out of the park
just about any time.
"Mark Minicozzi has stepped up and been one of our better players this
spring and has hit some home runs. He's a candidate to hit with Darryl if
people elect to pitch around him. But we're still not settled on it yet.
We've still got some issues there."
Spark plug
One area that doesn't concern Mazey is left field, which will be manned
primarily by senior Ben Sanderson. A part-time starter last season,
Sanderson batted a sizzling .405 and boasts a .347 career average.
At 5'8", 160-pounds, Sanderson isn't the Pirates' most talented player,
but he has emerged as the heartbeat of this year's team.
"When you mention the word spark plug, Ben Sanderson comes to mind,"
Mazey said. "He's not very talented. He doesn't have much bat speed, he
doesn't throw very well, and he just runs OK. But he gets more out of his
ability than any player I've ever coached.
"He's a gamer. He puts his heart and soul into East Carolina University
and representing this school on the baseball field."
Sanderson was recently recognized for his hustle and grit when Mazey
awarded him jersey No. 23, which was the number worn by former Pirates coach
Keith LeClair. When discussions arose about the number being retired,
LeClair requested that the jersey be worn each season, so it was decided
that it would become an honorary number given to a deserving player.
The Pirates' senior best displayed the qualities of his former coach and
Mazey says that, because of his desire and determination, the sky is the
limit for Sanderson.
"Nothing that Ben could do would surprise me," Mazey said. "I told him
when I met with him at the end of the fall that I wouldn't be surprised to
see Ben Sanderson in the big leagues because he plays with his heart.
"That's something you can't teach. Last year, he hit over .400 in limited
duty. Nothing he could do would surprise me because of his desire and
attitude. You dream of having a whole team full of Ben Sandersons."
New horizons
As Mazey looks at this season and beyond, he has to like the
possibilities. Already one of the nation's premier programs, East Carolina
resides in a conference that received five NCAA bids last season — second
most among all leagues — and continues to improve.
That success has opened new doors for the Pirates, who recently inked a
deal for a future trip to play at traditional heavyweight Arizona State. But
with the new stadium just a couple of seasons away, Mazey isn't looking to
schedule many more non-conference road trips.
Instead, he wants to bring a Who's Who list of opponents to Greenville.
"We're going to try to bring teams like that here," Mazey said. "With the
new stadium, we're going to try to attract good caliber, good quality teams
to come play in some tournaments in 2005.
"It's hard for us to travel. As much as we travel in Conference USA,
we've got five flights in this league, which is expensive. It's going to be
very sporadic when we can get on the road and play that type of competition,
but we would love to attract people like that to come here and play in our
new stadium."
That's just a small sample of Mazey's vision for East Carolina and, on a
larger scale, college baseball.
