April 16, 2010

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GREENVILLE, N.C. - After two victories over N.C. State Wednesday, East Carolina (25-14, 6-3 C-USA) hosts UTEP (26-14, 8-4 C-USA) this weekend for a three-game Conference USA series. The contests are critical for both teams as the Miners are one of three squads tied with the Pirates for second in the league. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m. and finish the weekend with a 12:00 p.m. Sunday contest.

Head coach Tracey Kee will be going for her 600th career win this weekend. Her teams have won 40 or more games in five of the past six, and 10 of the past 13, seasons, and have tallied at least 50 in four of her years as head coach.

With the victory, she will become one of 45 active NCAA Division I coaches to reach the 600-win plateau. Kee began the 2010 campaign ranked 31st among Division I active coaches in winning percentage at .660.

Pirates Against The Miners ...
East Carolina owns a 9-4 advantage in the all-time series, which began in 2006 when UTEP joined Conference USA. Two of the Miners' four triumphs came in Greenville, in the final two games of the 2008 series. The Pirates won the first four meetings and had claimed three-straight victories before falling to UTEP in 13 innings in the opening round of last season's league tournament.

In that contest, the longest in C-USA Tournament history, Chelsea Troupe, the league's freshman-of-the-year, hit her second home run of the game with two outs in the top of the 13th to give UTEP the victory. East Carolina had scored three unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.

Earlier in 2009, the Pirates traveled to El Paso and swept the Miners. ECU won Friday's games 2-0 and 7-1 before blanking UTEP again Saturday, 8-0 in six innings. Toni Paisley recorded both shutouts and Cristen Aona hit a two-run home run in the first and third games to lead the offense.

I'll Take 13 Of 14 ...
Paisley picked up the win in Wednesday's first game at N.C. State to give her victories in 13 of her past 14 decisions. Her only setback was to UAB in Saturday's opener. The loss was her first since March 7 at Hawai'i. During the past 14 decisions, Paisley has allowed seven earned runs in 93.1 innings for a 0.53 ERA. She has also struck out 128 batters for an average of 1.4 per inning.

Jimenez Goes Deep, Twice ...
In the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader at N.C. State, junior Sissy Jimenez led off the second inning with a solo home run and later hit a two-run shot in the fifth. The long balls were the first of her career and allowed her to tie her personal best with three runs batted in.

After not having a player hit two home runs in a game since Erin St. Ledger against Kent State Feb. 8, 2008, the Pirates have now had two players accomplish the feat in the past two weeks with Jimenez Wednesday and senior Marina Gusman-Brown going deep twice in the second game April 7 at Hampton.

Among The Nation's Best ...
With the release of the most recent set of NCAA statistics, through April 11 games, East Carolina finds itself ranked second in the country in fielding percentage with a .980 mark. The pitching staff 's 1.97 earned run average is the 27th best.

Individually, senior Charina Sumner is 16th in both triples per game (0.14) and triples (5) while Gusman-Brown checks in 30th in stolen bases per game (0.58). Paisley is ranked seventh nationally in shutouts (9), 14th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.73), 17th in strikeouts (215), 25th in victories (17), and 30th in earned run average (1.39).

Racing Around The Bases ...
Beginning with a March 10 doubleheader at Fresno State, the Pirates have stolen 36 bases in 42 attempts. Opponents' running games have been much less active over the same span as foes have tried to swipe only 10 bases, converting on eight.

April Games Bring No Runs ...
All 10 of East Carolina's games in the month of April have been shutouts. The Pirates blanked UCF three times to open the month and Hampton twice April 7. Saturday UAB recorded 2-0 and 5-0 victories over ECU. In the Sunday series finale, the Pirates downed the Blazers 2-0. Wednesday at N.C. State, East Carolina was again the shutout victor as it blanked the Wolfpack 1-0 in eight innings and 7-0. In the past 72 innings, foes have scored in just three of them.

Lots Of Zeros ...
This season, of the Pirates' 25 wins, 17 have been shutouts.