"Griffis is in his sixth and final year of eligibility. Williams is a redshirt junior." Obviously, all things being equal (or nearly equal), this give the latter the default advantage. ...though in this madcap era of the portal, much what used to be obvious is less so. Hopefully I won't hear of anything more asinine for the rest of this month than a 24-team CFP.

I agree. The powerful want more power.

Would an expanded playoff help or hurt the American conference? I am concerned the Power 4 conferences will just try to make it even more difficult for the American conference to get multiple teams in the playoffs.

Maybe Cliffs best coaching yet. Injuries, young talent. Hes one of best coaches in the country. His love for Keith Leclaire and ECU has kept him here. He’s had many $$$$ chances. He’s a better teacher than coach. The men that go through his program are qualified to be my son in law!

It’s very simple, the Pirates have too many problems to finish the season strong. Pitching injuries have haunted the Pirates season, and aren’t going away. Occasional defensive lapses place more pressure on the fragile pitching. Throw in the sporadic performance of ECU batters and you have an almost insurmountable hill to climb. At a time in the season where teams must put the pedal to the metal, the Pirates have trouble merely keeping the engine running. Last year’s magic at the AC Tourney will have to be repeated if the Pirates are to make the NCAA baseball tournament. I don’t see that happening. I hope I’m wrong.

It’s hard to figure out this year’s diamond Pirates. The offense which showed up on Friday stayed in the dugout yesterday. The number of non-quality trips to the plate by several Pirates is hard to explain. Give credit to the Memphis pitching, which suffered through one inning of poor defense, and otherwise tamed the Pirates. The Tigers earned their runs with timely hitting when it counted. While the Pirates can still win the series today, which is important, Saturday’s loss will hurt the postseason résumé. The Pirates simply were not that competitive at the plate.

Aggressive hitting, combined with solid pitching, powered the Pirates to an impressive win over Memphis. ECU remembered how to use the bats, and didn’t waste any time jumping on the Memphis starter right from the get-go. Moreover, the Pirates kept adding runs along the way which gave ECU pitching the chance to shorten the game. RT did his part on the mound once again, as did C-Wall to close it out. Pirate bullpen is now in as good of shape as it could be for Sat/Sun. Hopefully, the bats will stay active, and Norby will bring his A-game on Saturday.

By far, the best outing of the year by the Pirates. RT provided the pitching spark, and Pirate batters went to the plate to be hitters, swinging to hit the ball where it was pitched, and not trying to hammer a kill shot every time. With the Pirates hitting everything thrown at them, USF pitchers tossed some “mistakes” their way, resulting in several home runs. If the Pirates can keep this type of focus at the plate, there isn’t any team remaining on the schedule the Pirates can’t compete. The pitching has to be on par with Towers performance, going forward. You may not always get the same results, but the Pirates need some dependable strike-throwers to step up.

Understanding that your pitching might be sketchy, I expected the Pirate offense to start fast. That didn’t happen. But, thanks to a lot of Monarch help, and Pirate bats finally coming alive, ECU was able to run-rule ODU for the second time this year. Honestly, this year ODU isn’t that competitive, but the Pirates needed a game where the bats definitely carried the day. 18 hits speak for themselves. Pirate batters took what ODU pitchers gave them, and slapped single after single through the infield, with C-Wall’s double being the only extra base hit. The hit batsmen and walks, combined with all of the Pirate hits spelled disaster for ODU. On the flip side, ECU had its own pitching woes. This win was ugly. It’s never good when you HAVE TO bring your third baseman in to pitch in order to complete a run-rule victory. Sean Jenkins and Ethan Rose did provide some quality outs. Nick Moran’s brief appearance gives hope that he can come back to a routine pitching schedule. Otherwise, the Pirate bullpen continues to be a mess. Going forward, let’s hope Pirate batters keep hitting the singles and not trying to hit kill shots at every at bat. If the Pirates can find another arm in the bullpen to provide a couple of innings of solid work twice a week, the remainder of the season could be very interesting.

Winning a conference series is never a bad thing. However, when you stink up your home field on Tuesday and Sunday, you can’t blame fans for being less than satisfied. At times, the Pirates appear to play without energy, almost like they are always playing the second game of a doubleheader. Pirate batters need to do less chest-tapping, and more hitting. Given the problems of the pitching staff, every at-bat is important for creating enough runs to stay competitive. At this point in the season, teams have usually established their identity. For the Pirates, there’s no telling who will show up one game to the next.

Hopefully, he will find players who are proven shooters…terrible this past season…wish him the best of luck…

If last night’s Pirates are what we can expect going forward, playing .500 baseball could be a major chore for this team. The usual suspects, shaky pitching and minimal offense, were joined by an almost total lack of energy. As a team, the Pirates are in trouble. For certain, injuries are part of the problem, forcing many young, inexperienced players into the lineup. Also, several veteran players are having less than the solid season expected of them. The Wolfpack looked like a team setting up for a solid run, as the Pirates continue to slide. There is enough of the season remaining for the Pirates to recover, but the improvement must start now.

Although the Pirates continue to have their pitching woes, that’s not what cost ECU the series against Tulane. The Pirates time after time hit the ball hard, only to see a shifted Wave fielder in perfect position. Conversely, Tulane hitters were quite willing to hit against the shift, and profited from their efforts. Several Pirate hitters continued pounding balls into the shifts used against them. Tulane doesn’t have a high output offense, nor do they have a pitching staff that can consistently pitch to the defensive shifts they use. For this weekend, at least, Tulane hitters actively sought to find the “empty” spot in the Pirate shift(s), something Pirate hitters either could not, or would not, do.

Two series into the conference schedule, and the Pirates can sum up the season to this point with one word - inconsistency. What proved to be a solid pitching performance on Friday gave way to pitching collapses on Saturday and Sunday. Considering the Pirates had scored just four runs through 18 innings, they were extremely lucky to have a chance at the series win on Sunday. The offense remained idle for 6 innings. Finally, in the 7th, the Pirates took advantage of some huge gifts by UTSA pitching/defense to eventually tie the game, and later take the lead. Unfortunately, the pitching failed once more. If GVK doesn’t come back soon, the Pirates better find someone who can give them 6/7 innings of decent pitching on Saturday. Pitching by committee on Saturday, Sunday, and midweek games will prove difficult, if not disastrous. It appears that many Pirate at-bats are characterized by called strikes, at a time when the bats should be active. You may not like what the umpire is calling, but you need to adapt to the strike zone being called. Whatever offensive philosophy is being used, it needs to be flexible enough to adapt to the current need. The Pirates need to hit their stride, and fast. 29 games into the season, and they are just 4 games above .500. I’m hoping for the best, but realistically, it’s not promising.

Great report !!