ECU's Lee, Roach get national academic honors

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF) have announced that former East Carolina student-athletes Robert Lee and Kevin Roach have earned selection to the inaugural NFF National Honor Society.

The NFF National Honor Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a 3.2 grade point average or better. A total of 345 players from 195 schools earned recognition as part of the inaugural class.

Houston's Kolb leads C-USA draft selections

Conference USA had a total of eight players selected in the 2007 NFL draft. Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb was the first player chosen from a C-USA school, going to the Philadelphia Eagles with the fourth pick of the second round, the 36th overall selection.

This year's draft the first time since 2003 that a C-USA player was not chosen in the first round.

Kolb was the third quarterback selected in the draft, behind LSU's JaMarcus Russell (Oakland Raiders - No. 1) and Notre Dame's Brady Quinn (Cleveland Browns - No. 22).

Kolb finished his career as the most prolific passer in Houston history, rewriting almost every passing and total offense record, including pass completions (964), pass attempts (1,565), passing yards (12,964), total plays (2,037), total offense (13,715) and touchdowns responsible for (106).

Kolb was a consensus selection as the 2006 Conference USA offensive player of the year and a unanimous pick to the All C-USA first team.

Other C-USA selections:

• Central Florida wide receiver Mike Walker to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round;

• Texas-El Paso wide receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins to the Oakland Raiders in the third round;

• Memphis cornerback Brandon McDonald to the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round;

• East Carolina wide receiver Aundrae Allison to the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round;

• Southern Methodist defensive end Justin Rogers to the New England Patriots in the sixth round;

• UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer to the Washington Redskins in the sixth round;

• Marshall running back Ahmad Bradshaw to the New York Giants in the seventh round.

Jordan's son plans to join Illini hoops program

Jeffrey Jordan, a senior guard at Loyola Academy and Michael Jordan's son, has said he plans to play basketball at Illinois.

The 6-foot-2 guard, who twice made all conference, said he will be a preferred walk-on, meaning he won't be have a scholarship but that he is assured of a roster spot.

The younger Jordan declined a scholarship to Valparaiso to join the Big Ten program.

April 30, 2007

ECU's Allison drafted in fifth round by Vikings

East Carolina wide receiver Aundrae Allison was selected as the ninth pick in the fifth round of the NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Allison had 145 catches for 1,732 yards and 11 touchdowns in two seasons at ECU.

A 4.39-second speedster in the 40-yard dash, Allison was twice named All-Conference USA.

Pirates split softball doubleheader with Cougars

Houston clinched the regular season Conference USA softball title in the first game of a doubleheader at East Carolina on Saturday with a 4-0 win.

ECU bounced back in the second game to post a 3-1 victory, handing the Cougars just their third conference loss of the season.

A two-run home run by Houston's Haley Valis in the top of the ninth inning was the deciding blow in a 3-1 loss by ECU to the Cougars on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates dropped to 35-18 overall and 11-9 in conference play but have assured themselves a berth in the C-USA tournament.

Heels win first series at Doak Field since 2001

UNC-Chapel Hill's Reid Fronk hit a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning and added a game-winning two-run shot in the eighth to lift the No. 4 Tar Heels to a 7-5 series-clinching win over No. 24 N.C. State on Sunday at Doak Field.

With two straight wins over the Wolfpack (29-16, 12-12 ACC), UNC-CH (37-10, 16-8 ACC) claimed its first series victory in Raleigh since 2001.

Duke captures ACC men's lacrosse title

Host Duke defeated Virginia 12-9 on Sunday in the final of the ACC men's lacrosse tournament. The Blue Devils improved to 13-2.

The Duke program was rocked last season by charges of sexual assault against three players. Those charges were recently dropped by the state attorney general's office. Durham district attorney Mike Nifong faces ethics charges from the state bar association in June as a result of his handling of the Duke case.

April 29, 2007

ECU teams earn NCAA academic recognition

Four Conference USA institutions and 15 athletic squads were recognized by the NCAA for their latest academic progress rate (APR) scores.

The teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports.

East Carolina had two teams that earned this distinction as women's tennis and volleyball were acknowledged for their academic performance.

NCAA acts on text messaging, baseball

The NCAA Division I board of directors approved a proposal that prevents coaches from sending text-messages to prospective student-athletes.

The board also approved a package from the Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group as emergency legislation, which includes a change in the financial aid structure for baseball student-athletes and requiring academic certification for those student-athletes in the fall term to be eligible to participate in the spring term.

The baseball-related legislation also requires a year in residence before transfer student-athletes can compete and directs the Committee on Academic Performance to implement further playing and practice season penalties on baseball teams that do not meet minimum academic progress rate standards.

LSU quarterback goes No. 1 in draft as expected

JaMarcus Russell of LSU was the first pick in the NFL draft in New York on Saturday by the Oakland Raiders.

Detroit chose wide receiver Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech with the second pick. Cleveland selected Joe Thomas, the left tackle from Wisconsin, with the third selection.

April 28, 2007

Scholar-athlete honors go to Handsfield, Krug

East Carolina junior swimmer Geoff Handsfield and senior volleyball setter Heidi Krug have been named East Carolina University'ss most outstanding male and female scholar-athletes for 2006-07.

Handsfield and Krug will be honored at the 18th annual breakfast of champions today at the Murphy Center. The award is considered to be the most prestigious at ECU presented annually to a male and female student-athlete. The award recognizes academic achievement, qualities of leadership, and service to the university and community.

Sunday start for softball moves up one hour

Due to flight plans for Houston, the final game of the three-game conference series between East Carolina and the Cougars this weekend has been moved from 1 p.m. to noon on Sunday.

The Cougars come to Greenville holding the top spot in Conference USA with a record of 16-2. The Pirates sit just behind them in second place with a conference record of 10-7. The top six squads in the conference qualify for the 2007 C-USA Tournament.

First pitch for today's doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m. The Pirates will honor their three seniors before today's first contest as Keli Harrell, Jessica Potter and Joyce Roodenburg play their final home games.

Rice's Savery, Tulane's Morgan on Howser list

Two Conference USA standouts have been named to the 50-man watch list for the 2007 Dick Howser Trophy, given to the nation's top collegiate baseball player.

Rice junior pitcher/first baseman Joe Savery and Tulane junior pitcher Sean Morgan are the league's representatives that are receiving national player of the year consideration.

April 27, 2007

Young named MVP for Lady Pirates hoops

Sophomore guard Jasmine Young was named most valuable player at the 2007 East Carolina women's basketball awards banquet. She also won the award last year.

A native of Richmond , VA, Young led ECU in assists (164), 3-point field goals (43), 3-point field goal percentage (27.9), steals (79), and minutes played (1152). Young, who ranked 36th in the nation in assists per game (5.0), averaged a team second-best 13.4 points per game and started in 32 of the 33 Lady Pirate contests.

SMU golfer beats pros for Byron Nelson berth

Southern Methodist senior Colt Knost won a sudden-death playoff at Byron Nelson championship qualifying on Monday to earn a berth in the prestigious PGA event.

Knost carded a 65 for the 18-hole event and advanced to a three-way playoff with two professionals, Michael Allen and Michael Boyd, for the last two spots. On the first playoff hole, a par 5, Knost's 9-iron approach landed 10 feet from the cup. He rolled in the birdie putt to secure a spot in his first PGA Tour.

Knost joined three others who earned berths in the qualifying event at the par 71 Timarron Country Club.

Pacers dismiss Carlisle after missing playoffs

The Indiana Pacers have fired former Virginia basketball player Rick Carlisle after four years as coach. The team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Carlisle guided the club to a 35-47 mark in 2006-07, the Pacers' worst record since 1988-89.

April 26, 2007

ECU adds The Citadel to baseball schedule

East Carolina announced Wednesday the addition of The Citadel to the 2007 baseball schedule to complete a 56-game regular season.

The game will be played on Tuesday May 8 at 6 p.m. at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville. It replaces the April 14 game between ECU and Marshall which was not played due to inclement weather.

ECU (28-13) will play host to Confrenece USA foe Southern Miss this weekend in a three-game series beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. (EDT), which will be followed by Saturday's game at 6 p.m. and Sunday's at 1 p.m.

Baseball season ticket holders can use their Game 19 (Michigan) ticket for admission to The Citadel game May 8 at 6:00 p.m. and their Game 17 (Michigan) ticket for entry to the Elon contest May 15 at 7:00 m. If you no longer have possession of those tickets, you can stop by the ECU Athletics Ticket Office, present photo ID, and have your season ticket for those games reprinted.

Pirates will buddy up with Challenger League

The East Carolina baseball team will host a Challenger League game this Saturday (April 28) at Clark-LeClair Stadium starting at noon.

The league is for children with any special needs from the ages of five to 18.

The 25th nationally-ranked Pirates (28-13, 6-5 C-USA) will act in a buddy system for the participants helping them with all phases of the game.