March 7, 2011

The East Carolina baseball team continued its stellar play over the weekend picking up a series win over nationally recognized Pepperdine. The Pirates (7-3) lost a heartbreaker during game one of the doubleheader 5-4 in extra innings, but rebounded with a solid 7-4 win in the night cap. On the weekend, ECU hurlers allowed nine runs (all earned) and enter this week's action with a Conference USA best 2.00 team ERA.

East Carolina Pirates (7-3)
National Ranking: Receiving Votes (NCBWA) as of Feb. 28, 2011
Current Streak: W-1

Last Week: 3-1
Mar. 1: Win vs. Campbell, 7-4
Mar. 4: Win vs. Pepperdine, 2-0
Mar. 5: Loss vs. Pepperdine, 5-4 (11 inn.)
Mar. 5: Win vs. Pepperdine, 7-4

Upcoming Week
Away vs. Campbell (Mar. 8)
Home vs. High Point (Mar. 9)
* Home vs. Monmouth (Mar. 11)
* Home vs. Rutgers (Mar. 12)
* Home vs. Liberty (Mar. 13)
* = 8th Annual Keith LeClair Classic

Pirate Hitter of the Week
Corey Thompson, Junior, INF
For the third-straight week Thompson led the team in hitting with a .500 (8-for-16) average helping the Pirates to a 3-1 week, including a series win over nationally recognized Pepperdine ... He drove in three runs and scored twice ... Extended current streak to 17-straight games (dating back to May 18, 2010) where he has reached base safely ... Recorded three multi-hit games (35 for career), including a four-hit performance in game one of ECU's doubleheader against Pepperdine - tying his career-high for hits in a game ... His RBI single in the fourth inning of game three against Pepperdine proved to be the game winner, the second of the season and seventh of his career ... Thompson, who is batting .421 on the season, owns a career .388 average which ranks in the Top-5 among C-USA active players.

Pirate Pitcher of the Week
Seth Maness, Senior, RHP
Maness tossed his first career complete game shutout (two-hitter) against Pepperdine on March 4 to improve to 2-1 on the year ... Tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts, which was previously set last March against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif. ... Faced three over the minimum and at one point retired 18 hitters in a row from the third (one-out double) to the ninth inning (two-out single) shutting down the Waves completely for nearly seven innings ... In all he forced eight ground outs, seven fly outs, walked one and hit one in his third career complete game ... Most of the ground outs were weak and only four fly balls left the infield ... He recorded seven first- or second-pitch outs, and ran the count to three balls just twice, including a ninth-inning walk ... Struck out multiple hitters in three frames including the side in the seventh ... He threw 101 pitches (74 for strikes) in ECU's fastest game (hour and 45 minutes) since April 24, 2005 when Ricky Brooks no-hit Memphis in an hour and 43 minutes ... Maness registered his 30th career win and moved into sole possession of third place on ECU's all-time wins list ... His 30 wins also ranks first among NCAA active pitchers ... With his 11 punch outs he moved into sole possession of fifth place on the school's all-time strikeouts list (275) passing ECU Hall of Famer and former Major Leaguer Bob Patterson (1978-82) ... His third career shutout moved him into a tie for eighth place all-time at ECU ... On the season, Maness owns an impressive 1.86 ERA where he has fanned 21 batters while walking just one in 19.1 innings.

PIRATE NOTES
Through 10 games, the Pirates pitching staff is putting up some impressive numbers ... Currently they own a 2.00 ERA, which ranks tops in Conference USA ... They have tossed three shutouts and have seven pitchers with at least four innings of work with an ERA of 2.25 or lower ... ECU also leads the league in opposing batting average (.219), fewest hits allowed (73), fewest runs allowed (33), fewest earned runs allowed (20) and fewest walks allowed (20).

Junior Zach Wright led the Pirates with two home runs, six RBI and five runs scored ... Against Campbell he belted his fourth career grand slam and drove in five ... He scored at least one run in all four games and drove in the game-winning run against Campbell, his fifth career game-winning RBI ... Currently he is batting .229 (8-for-35) with seven RBI and eight runs scored ... Behind the plate he has thrown out 4-of-9 base stealers including a pair in ECU's 4-3 win over No. 10 Virginia.

Junior INF Mike Ussery continued his impressive play batting .467 (7-for-15) pm the week with a double and two RBI ... He collected three multi-hit games on the week ... Drove in the game-winning RBI against Pepperdine in the series opener with a single in the second inning ... Scored the game-winning run in the series clincher against the Waves in the fourth inning scoring from second on Corey Thompson's single ... He has started five of six games played batting .444 (8-for-18) with five RBI.

Sophomore OF Chris Gosik smacked his first home run of the season and third of his career in the series opener against Pepperdine ... On the week he was one of three Pirates that batted over .400 hitting .417 (5-for-12) with a pair of RBI ... He started 3 of 4 games in the outfield and pushed his season average to .357.

Utility pitcher Brad Mincey picked up his first win of the year and 17th of his career in the series clincher against Pepperdine ... The senior right-hander worked a career-best 7.2 innings of scoreless relief scattering eight hits with one walk and three punch outs ... In five appearances this season he sports a 0.93 ERA allowing one run (earned) in 9.2 innings with four strikeouts.

Sophomore Jake Harris notched his first career save against Campbell during midweek action ... The left-hander worked a scoreless ninth frame with a strikeout to preserve the Pirates 7-4 win ... He also made an appearance in game one of the doubleheader Saturday suffering the loss in extra innings ... In all, he worked 2.1 innings allowed three hits, one run (earned) with a strikeout on the week.

Seth Simmons recorded his second save of the season in the series clincher against Pepperdine and moved within one save of tying the school record of 23 ... He worked 2.0 innings on the week allowing a walk and striking out two ... In five appearances this season, he boasts a 0.00 ERA giving up just one hit in 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts.

Head Coach Billy Godwin recorded his 463rd career and 200th Pirate win in game two of the Saturday doubleheader against Pepperdine ... He became the third Pirate skipper to win 200 career games (Gary Overton/427 and Keith LeClair/212).