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.

I'd hoped he'd land on his feet, and it looks like he did. Under difficult circumstances, he handled himself with dignity; that much I'll give him. His dossier coming here looked really good, arguably deserving of the big payday, but it never really translated. I was surprised that the administration cut the line when it did; rumors say that patrons really drove it. Based on the immediate results, it was a good move, and someone postulated that they also made the move when they did because they knew he might manage to win the upcoming games vs. poor opposition, which could've made it harder to axe him at a later point. Either way, I think that an icon of the new energy when BH moved into the job was the two-minute drill aggressiveness and success in most of the remaining games, whereas to me MH always looked like he was coaching timidly, not to lose. BH has done great so far, and earned the job, but I'm holding my breath after the significant hits the roster has taken.

One of my good friends who played for ECU from 1969-1973 said he heard Coach Houston say "If I had known the mess this program was in, I would have stayed in Charlotte".

Good for him. Houston is a quality man - silly to say negative stuff about this guy IMO. He inherited a mess and made us competitive again. He set us up for a better future whether you agree or not. Go back and look at the rosters of what he came in to and what he left. Many changes in the landscape while he was coach. Upward and onward! Good for him, Glad for the success of Harrell!! Go Pirates!!

So we had a head coach that really isn’t even a defensive coordinator at a top program.