This scenario has become too painful to watch. BP’s sudden inability to throw strikes during an outing is the norm, not the exception. And, he’s not the only one. Unless it’s Young or Hunter, you never know what you’ll get from the bullpen. Losing Norby to illness left the Pirates without any real starters, given the season-long injuries to the preseason projected starters. Even Norby got pushed into his Friday starter role as a result of those injuries. More worrisome, BP’s inexcusably late effort to cover first base indicates he was “checked out” mentally. I haven’t seen that happen to the Pirates this year, regardless of the other problems. Combine the pitching woes with periodic weakness at the plate as exhibited by the Pirates through the season thus far, and the resulting mediocre, 26-20 record is not surprising. It took the Pirates seven innings to score against Wichita, not known to have a strong pitching staff. The Pirates couldn’t produce enough offense to overcome the early deficit. This could be a very ugly series for the Pirates if the poor pitching starts continue, and the offense continues to sputter.

The only consistent part of the ECU offense is its’ inconsistency. Mismanagement of a couple of scoring opportunities didn’t help. Why you don’t try to small-ball your way to get a run in, when the team as a whole is struggling, is hard to understand. I don’t know if the Pirates will ever be consistent enough with both their hitting and pitching to make much of a run to season’s end.

Too much generalities & not enough detail on players. Running game needs to be good ?? Yeah. Freshman QB had a good high school program? Yeah. Too much Coach talk.

Is this image available (royalty free) for use on a self-published novel?

Fine article. Keep giving it to us. Appreciate it.

With so many new faces on the roster, and 20 of those faces being red-shirt or true freshmen, repeating last year’s success was going to be a tall order for the Pirates. However, no one expected the drop off in performance exhibited thus far by ECU. Some of the problems for the Pirates stem from injury; to Ryley Johnson, a senior standout who has barely made the field, and two portal-transfer pitchers who were slated to be mainstays for the Pirates. Neither player has made an appearance, and pitching continues to be a big concern. Combine this with defensive errors and many poor at-bats by the Pirates, a sub-thirty win season is staring at the Pirates. There are no easy fixes for the Pirates. Although several young players are contributing, the team as a whole is lacking consistency in almost every phase of the game. The Pirates may well suffer a second in-league sweep at CLT, and could struggle to make the AAC tourney, something unthinkable two months ago. Hopefully, more players will seize the moment, and give the Pirates a chance to finish respectably.

You have a dude who has already been through your order so you've seen him, he's throwing lots of strikes, and yet you keep looking at first pitch strikes. ...nothing like not even giving yourself a chance while making the dude's job easier by getting ahead in the count and conserving his bullets! ...sorry, but ECU is not even competing at the plate.

What is the current status of the following players in baseball : Ryley Johnson Ryan Towers Brett Antolick We are needing them in the line up

It's later in the game, State's pitching is dominating, with ECU having a mere 3 hits, and guys are still taking first pitches all the way; they need to compete better.

ARRGH

I hate to say it, but the takeaway from this article is that ECU has not set a terribly high bar for collective revenue teams success in a season.

I think that was Parker Byrd's first RBI. Amazing!

Speaking of Indiana State and Larry Bird: old-time Pirates may remember ECU Basketball's game against Indiana State in December 1978 at the Hatter Classic in Deland, Florida. Bird scored 32 that night as the Pirates fell 102-79. Greg Cornelius led the Pirates with 17 points, Ollie Mack chipped in 15. Indiana State improved to 5-0 to start the season and entered the Top 20 the following week on their way to a 33-1 finish. Box score is here: https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/1978-79/east-carolina/boxscore/5686

How long will Ryley be out?

I guess a little payback for the football game.