April 26, 2010

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina baseball team suffered through a gut-wrenching week going 0-5, which included being swept at Conference USA rival Rice. The Pirates (24-17, 6-6) dropped to a tie of fourth place with Tulane in the league standings and looks to rebound with a midweek game on the road against UNC Wilmington and a home series with Marshall, who currently sits in second place in C-USA.

Apr. 26 East Carolina Baseball Notebook

National Rankings: (as of April 19, 2010)
No. 21 - NCBW
RV - ESPN/USA Today
NR - Ping!Baseball
NR - Rivals.com
NR - Baseball America

Current Streak: L-5

Last Week: 0-5
Apr. 20 Loss at Campbell, 12-5
Apr. 21 Loss vs. N.C. State, 8-6
Apr. 23 Loss at Rice, 20-3
Apr. 24 Loss at Rice, 3-2
Apr. 25 Loss at Rice, 11-9

Upcoming Week:
Road vs. UNC-Wilmington (Apr. 27)
Home vs. Marshall (Apr. 30 - May 2)

Pirate Hitter-of-the-Week
Trent Whitehead, OF, Junior
Whitehead batted at team-best .350 (7-for-2) with two RBI, five runs and three doubles ... Recorded a hit in 4 of 5 games on the week including a pair of multi-hit games in the last two contests against Rice ... Roped doubles against Campbell, NC State and Rice (game 2) ... Registered four walks on the week ... In the series finale at Rice was 2-for-4 with two runs, two walks and a pair of stolen bases ... Recorded 21 putouts on the week in centerfield ... Currently batting .333 (55-for-165) with 14 doubles, 20 RBI and 40 runs, which ranks second on the team behind Corey Thompson.

Pirate Pitcher-of-the-Week
Seth Maness, RHP, Junior
Maness was brilliant in his start scattering five hits over 7 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and two walks ... He was charged with a pair of runs after allowing a hit and issuing a walk in the eighth frame and would get a no decision, snapping his seven-game winning streak ... Maness retired the sides in the first, sixth and seventh innings and allowed just five base runners through seven frames ... He owns a 7-2 record on the year with 61 strikeouts to just 12 walks in 65.0 innings.

PIRATE NOTES:
Redshirt Freshman Philip Clark batted .333 (5-for-15) with a home run, double and five runs scored ... Recorded his fifth career multi-hit game with a two-hit performance against Campbell ... Smacked second career home run with a solo shot to right field against Rice in the series finale ... Currently owns a five-game hitting streak where he is batting .352 (6-for-17).

Kyle Roller hit his 48th career home run against N.C. State (4/21) ... Batted .263 (5-for-19) with a two RBI, double and three runs ... Had 38-game streak of reaching base safely snapped in game two against Rice ... Walked four times on the week and was hit once ... Is two home runs shy of becoming the second Pirate in school history to hit 50 home runs as well as becoming just the fifth person in NCAA history to have 50 HRs and 50 HPBs ... Started all five games at first base recording 35 putouts and three assists and is fielding 1.000 on the year ... Ranks second on the team with a .353 (48-for-136) average, as well as home runs (9) ... Leads the team with 16 doubles, 41 RBI, 41 walks and 14 HBPs.

Jared Avchen and Corey Thompson each stroked three-run homers in the series finale against Rice ... For both guys it was their fourth home runs of the season ... Avchen batted .300 (3-for-10) with three RBI on the week, while Thompson hit .313 (5-for-16) with four RBI.

Brad Mincey registered his second quality start (6.0 IP and 3 or less ER) of the season working six strong innings against in-state rival N.C. State ... The right-hander allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision ... On the year he owns a 2-1 record in nine appearances with a 5.47 ERA ... He has fanned 19 strikeouts and walked nine in 26.1 innings.

Head Coach Billy Godwin is currently tied for third place with ECU Hall of Famer Earl Smith on the school's all-time wins list with 185 and owns a 448-189 overall ledger ... He is 28 wins away from passing another ECU Hall of Famer, Keith LeClair (212-96-1), for second place all-time.