ECU Baseball Tabbed Third in C-USA Preseason Baseball Poll
January 19, 2005 | Baseball
The Pirates claimed their first regular season Conference USA championship last season while advancing to the NCAA Super Regional for the second time in the last four years. To a team that set C-USA record for conference wins (25) and a school record for overall victories (51), the Pirates welcome back 17 letterwinners.
Minicozzi has been a mainstay in the Pirates' lineup the last two seasons and has made a name for himself at the hot corner and at the plate. He hit .342 a season ago with 10 homeruns and 50 RBI while excelling defensively with a .959 fielding percentage, only committing seven errors in 115 chances.
Coming off its seventh consecutive NCAA appearance and a trip to the Super Regional, Tulane has been selected as the unanimous preseason favorite in the 2005 Conference USA baseball poll, chosen by the league's 12 head coaches. Green Wave junior pitcher/outfielder Brian Bogusevic, a consensus preseason All-American, is the Preseason C-USA Player of the Year. Patrick Ezell of Southern Miss, who was named to Conference USA's All-Freshman team last season, was named as the league's preseason pitcher of the year.
Defending tournament champion TCU was chosen to finish second with 21 letterwinners returning including two Horned Frogs named to the All-C-USA squad.
Southern Miss and Houston round out the top five, while USF was picked sixth, followed by Louisville and UAB.
Rounding out the final four spots in the preseason poll are Charlotte, Cincinnati, Memphis and Saint Louis.
2005 C-USA PRESEASON BASEBALL COACHES POLL
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Tulane (12)
2. TCU
3. East Carolina
4. Southern Miss
5. Houston
6. USF
7. Louisville
8. UAB
9. Charlotte
10. Cincinnati
11. Memphis
12. Saint Louis
(first place votes in parentheses)
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
P J.R. Crowel Jr. Tulane
P Patrick Ezell So. Southern Miss
P Casey Hudspeth So. USF
RP Brian Halford Jr. Louisville
C Greg Dini Sr. Tulane
IF Shelby Ford So. TCU
IF Marc Maddox Jr. Southern Miss
IF Tommy Manzella Sr. Tulane
IF Mark Minicozzi Jr. East Carolina
OF Matt Barket Sr. Tulane
OF Chad Huffman So. TCU
OF Travis Tully Jr. Houston
DH/UT Brian Bogusevic So. Tulane
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brian Bogusevic, Tulane (Junior, Pitcher/Outfielder)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Patrick Ezell, Southern Miss (Sophomore, Righthander)
