On the heels of Jay Cannon's walk-off home run in the
bottom of the ninth against Penn State on Friday, Mar. 16, the Pirates found
themselves once again in a dogfight with the Nittany Lions in game two of the
three game series at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Jeff Hoffman splashed onto the collegiate season as a
true freshman in 2012 where he posted a 3-2 record with a 3.67 ERA in 73.2
innings and 55 strikeouts on his way to Conference USA All-Freshman Team
honors.
If there was one pitcher on the team last year that just
had bad luck despite his pitching performances on the mound, senior Kevin
Brandt was that guy. The left-hander from Fuquay-Varina, N.C. tossed four
complete games to lead the club and Conference USA - all in losing efforts.
Though ECU claimed just one victory in the opening
Conference USA series against No. 19 UCF in late March, the Pirates shined in
their lone appearance on national television walking away with a 15-6 win at Jay
Bergman Field.
Every year before the start of the baseball season, one
player is chosen at the annual "Meet the Pirates" fan session to wear East
Carolina's honorary No. 23 jersey and on Jan. 28, senior Timothy Younger became
the ninth recipient to earn the highest honor in the baseball program.
Drew Reynolds had perhaps the best week of his young
career during the 2012 DRASH Alabama Classic helping the Pirates to
three wins and the tournament title.
Opening Day is the start of all things new. It's a chance
to wipe the slate clean from the previous season and start fresh.
John Wooten etched his name in the Pirate record books
following a stellar junior campaign in which he became the 15th player in
school history - first since Darryl Lawhorn in 2003 - to claim the Triple
Crown.
East Carolina senior Timothy Younger produced his best
weekend of baseball when he and the Pirates played host to Houston in early
April at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Pirate Nation - now that we are 19 days away
from the start of the 2013 season, we have decided to kick off the 10th Inning
blog with a countdown of Top 10 moments from the 2012 season. Each day we will
add a new post as we get closer to the season opener against nationally-ranked
Virginia (Feb. 15 at 3 p.m.).