ECU Baseball Travels to UCF
February 20, 2003 | Baseball
East Carolina (3-1) vs. UCF (3-3)
at Jay Bergman Field
Friday, Feb. 21, 6 p.m.
Sears (0-0, 3.00) vs. Stertzbach (0-1, 5.73)
Saturday, Feb. 22, 1 p.m.
Brinson (0-0, 3.00) vs. Michael (1-0, 5.40)
Sunday, Feb. 23, 1 p.m.
TBA vs. Cobb (0-0, 2.25)
Pirates Embark on First Road Trip of 2003
East Carolina University's Pirates hit the road for their first away series of the 2003 season when they travel to Orlando, Fla., to take on Central Florida in a three-game set, Feb. 21-23. The Pirates are off to a 3-1 start after sweeping three games from Western Carolina and dropping a tough 5-4 decision to NC State this past Wednesday in Greenville, N.C.
In The Polls
The Pirates are currently ranked No. 31 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and are also receiving votes in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll. ECU was listed at No. 36 in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll. East Carolina has been ranked in the top 30 of at least one of the three final major national baseball polls for each of the past four seasons. ECU finished with a national ranking of No. 24 in the final Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll of 2002.
On The Air
The UCF series will not be broadcast by the Pirate Sports Network. WNSC, the student radio station at UCF, will broadcast Friday's game on the Internet only at http://wnsc.ucf.edu. The games on Saturday and Sunday will be broadcast in the Orlando area by the UCF/ISP Sports Network on 740 AM.
On The World Wide Web
Live scoring and statistical play-by-play will be available for all three of this weekend's games on the internet through the official web site of the Pirates, ECUpirates.com. The statistical feed, which updates live after each batter, is made possible through a direct connection from the official statistician's scorebook computer and will be available for a majority of ECU's home and road games in 2003.
Mazey Era Begins at ECU
Randy Mazey, an assistant coach at Tennessee for the past four seasons, is in his first season as head baseball coach at East Carolina. A former ECU assistant under previous Pirate mentor Keith LeClair, Mazey served as the recruiting coordinator/pitching coach at Tennessee for the past four years. He served as the recruiting coordinator for East Carolina in 1998, recruiting such players as Eric Bakich, Lee Delfino, Jason Mandryk, James Molinari, Nick Schnabel, and Chad Tracy. Mazey is the ninth baseball coach in Pirate history and takes over for LeClair, who relinquished his head coaching duties on June 19, 2002, due to health reasons. LeClair, who remains with the ECU athletics department as a special assistant to Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick, compiled a 212-96-1 record over the past five seasons. He led the Pirates to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, including the NCAA Super Regional in 2001, and three Colonial Athletic Association championships.
Pitching Prowess
East Carolina's pitching staff has picked up where it left off with a sparkling 1.50 earned run average through four games. The Pirates posted a combined team ERA of 3.89 over the previous four seasons and have ranked among the nation's top 16 in that category in three of the past four years. The Pirate hurlers combined for a team ERA of 3.64 in 2002, which ranked 16th nationally.
Scouting UCF
The Golden Knights have advanced to NCAA Regional play in each of the last three years and seven of the last 10 years. UCF, which went 41-22 last season en route to the Atlantic Sun Conference championship, has gotten off to a 3-3 start in 2003 with wins over Bethune-Cookman (twice) and Western Kentucky and losses to Western Kentucky (twice) and Florida International. Senior right-hander Mark Michael headlines the returning pitchers. A second team All-Atlantic Sun selection , Michael was 7-4 with a 3.93 ERA in 2002. The Golden Knights are led at the plate by David Mann, who led the A-Sun with a .410 batting average last season and is hitting .450 with six stolen bases through six games in 2003. UCF also returns two Freshman All-Americans in Dee Brown (.397, 56 RBI in '02) and Clay Timpner (.364, 47 RBI). Last week, UCF was ranked No. 23 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and No. 26 by Collegiate Baseball News but dropped out of both polls after losing two of three at home against WKU.
Defensive Turnabout
After playing nearly flawless defense in the season's first three games, a rash of errors led to ECU's first defeat of the season this past Wednesday. Last weekend, the Pirates swept a three-game series from Western Carolina on the strength of pitching and defense. The only error committed by the Pirates came via a catcher's interference call. However, what was thought to be a strength turned into a glaring weakness on Wednesday against NC State. The Pirates committed four errors, including three that led to four unearned runs in the third inning, and went on to lose to the Wolfpack, 5-4.
Penny Absent From Weekend Rotation
ECU's most experienced returning starter, senior right-hander Davey Penny, will likely not pitch in the weekend rotation for the second straight week. Penny, who is making the trip to UCF, missed the Western Carolina series last weekend while recovering from a stomach virus. He pitched five solid innings against NC State on Wednesday, allowing four hits and four runs?all unearned?while taking the hard-luck loss against the Wolfpack. Penny was 8-4 with a 3.82 ERA last season and has won 14 games during his ECU career.
LeClair's Jersey Number 23 Awarded to Sanderson
Baseball jersey number 23, which is the number worn by former ECU head coach Keith LeClair throughout his coaching and playing career, has become an honorary number for the Pirate baseball program. At the suggestion of LeClair, current head coach Randy Mazey announced in early February that the number would be awarded annually to a deserving player who best displays the hustle, determination, and desire that made LeClair a great coach and player. For the 2003 season, the number has been awarded to senior outfielder Ben Sanderson. Sanderson, a three-year letterman, is a career .347 hitter and batted .405 with seven stolen bases as a part-time starter in left field last season. He was named to the 2002 NCAA Clemson Regional All-Tournament team. He was also named to the 2001-02 C-USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll for his classroom work. LeClair, whose courageous battle against a neuromuscular disorder has garnered support and admiration throughout the ECU community, stepped down after five years as the Pirates' head coach this past June.
Winning 40
East Carolina is one of only 12 teams in NCAA Division I that have posted 40 or more victories in each of the past four seasons. The only other teams to accomplish the feat are Florida State, Clemson, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Oral Roberts, Wichita State, Rice, Florida International, Stanford, and LSU. In addition, the Pirates are among just 17 Division I teams who have advanced to NCAA Regional play in each of the last four years.
New Double Play Record
Behind the defensive prowess of shortstop Luke Cherry and second baseman Jedd Sorenson, ECU turned in a school-record 68 double plays last season, topping the former record of 62 set by the 2000 team. Cherry returns for his senior season at shortstop, while senior Kevin O'Sullivan has taken over the regular duties at second base.
Tucker Dominates in Relief
Senior right-hander Glenn Tucker got out of the gates quickly this season as he earned a win and a save during ECU's opening weekend against Western Carolina. Tucker pitched three innings in each of his appearances against the Catamounts and did not yield a run or walk while striking out five and limiting opposing batters to just three hits.
Hometown Favorites
East Carolina drew crowds of over 1,900 fans at home 10 times last season and averaged 1,733 fans per game, by far the highest season attendance average in school history. Included in that total was a Harrington Field-record of 3,890 against North Carolina. The local excitement continues to build as this season, through four home games, the average attendance has been 1,861. This past Wednesday's crowd of 2,786 on hand for the ECU-NC State game was the largest ever to view a home Pirate game in the month of February and the ninth largest ever.
Milestones in Reach
The J.H. Rose Connection
Greenville's J.H. Rose High School has been a pipeline for baseball talent for the Pirates through the years and the 2003 roster continues to reflect that tie. Seven current ECU players are former Rampants and played for Rose head coach Ronald Vincent, whose teams are perennial state title contenders. The seven Rose High products are freshman left-hander Scott Andrews, senior right-hander Will Brinson, junior left-hander Ashley Capps, junior first baseman Mike Harrington, sophomore outfielder Kelly Hodges, freshman left-hander Nate Logan, and junior outfielder Jamie Paige.
Lawhorn Racks Up Records
Infielder Darryl Lawhorn virtually rewrote the ECU freshman record book in 2002 by setting rookie season records for games played (64), at-bats (250), hits (104), batting average (.416), RBI (68), home runs (19), and total bases (179). His marks for hits and total bases also broke the overall ECU season records.
