East Carolina Welcomes Campbell To Clark-LeClair Stadium
March 30, 2005 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C.--East Carolina looks to rebound at home Wednesday night at 7 p.m. versus Campbell after dropping two of three over the weekend to Charlotte.
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates (14-9, 1-5 C-USA) continue to lead the conference in hitting with a .321 team batting average coming into the week. ECU also ranks third in conference defensively with a .973 fielding percentage.
Senior shortstop Billy Richardson currently leads C-USA with a .423 average, collecting 41 hits in 97 at-bats while walking 13 times and getting hit by a pitch three times. His .423 average is 20 points ahead of Chad House of Memphis, who ranks second in the conference in hitting. Richardson also ranks first in runs scored (34) and is second in slugging percentage (.691) and hits (41) while ranking third with a .496 on base percentage. He also ranks second among all Pirate hitters, smacking four homers thus far.
Brian Cavanaugh, who still remains just under the minimum number of at-bats to be included in conference rankings, hitting .473 in 21 games this season. The senior outfielder has one home run as well as 11 RBI, 13 runs and six stolen bases. Drew Costanzo continues to lead ECU with seven home runs while collecting 22 RBI and plating 26 runs. Freshman outfielder Harrison Eldridge ranks 10th in conference with a .365 batting average this season. Mike Grace (.349, 3 HR, 19 RBI) and Mark Minicozzi (.340, 3 HR, 26 RBI) continue to produce in the middle of the Pirate lineup.
The pitching staff holds a 5.17 ERA this season despite having three different pitchers earn Conference USA Pitcher of the Week honors. Ricky Brooks earned the honor this past week for his one-hit performance against Charlotte in the 6-0 shutout of the 49ers in the second game of a doubleheader of Saturday. Brooks joins Mike Flye and Jeff Ostrander who earns pitcher of the week honors earlier this season.
P.J. Connelly continues to be the workhorse for ECU, logging a team-high 41 innings. The senior left-hander, who owns a record of 2-0 and an ERA of 2.85, also leads the club with 25 strikeouts. Ostrander (2-1, 3.67 ERA) and Mike Flye (4-3, 6.59 ERA) have joined Connelly as the other regular weekend starters this year. Ricky Brooks and Scott Andrews have both pitched well as of late, logging innings both in relief and in starting roles. Brooks owns a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 3.72 while Andrews, who is slated to start against the Camels, is 2-0 with an ERA of 5.09. Both pitchers have an excellent strikeout-to-walk ratios with Brooks striking out 17 while walking eight (2.1-to-1) and Andrews has fanned 19 while walking just six (3.2-to-1).
ABOUT CAMPBELL
The Camels are currently 13-10 overall and 2-4 in Atlantic Sun action. As a team, Campell is hitting .319 with 24 home runs and 155 runs scored in 23 games thus far. The Camel pitching staff has an ERA of 6.60 in 195 innings of work.
Mike Priest , Justin Phillips and Tim Holt lead the Camel offensive attack. Priest leads the club with a .405 batting average and has also slugged a team-high nine home runs. Priest is slugging .845 this year, 247 point higher than the next closest Camel hitter. Phillips is hitting at a .391 clip, tying Priest for a team-high 34 hits. He ranks second on the team with seven doubles and is tied for second with three round-trippers. Holt is batting .385 and is tied with Priest for a team-best 25 RBI while scoring 21 runs, which is also tied for a team-high. Jeff Blick leads the club on the basepaths, having swiped seven bags this season.
Lemmie Barwick leads the club with 13 appearances and currently owns a record of 4-1 and an ERA of 5.02. In 28 2/3 innings pitched, Barwick has allowed 26 hits while striking out 14 and walking 13. Joe Waldecker (2-1, 5.01 ERA), Nate Logan (2-1, 5.65) and Lincoln Smith (3-3, 6.99) have been the regular starters for Campbell this year. Jeff Randol, who is slated to start against the Pirates, owns a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 2.61. Only tossing 10 1/3 innings this season, Randol has allowed five runs on five hits while striking out nine and walking four.
ECU ALL-TIME vs. CAMPBELL
East Carolina holds a 47-17 all-time record versus Campbell having won six of the last seven contests. The Pirates and the Camels faced each other twice last season with ECU winning 10-2 in Greenville on Feb. 18 and 12-2 in Buies Creek on March 24. In the first meeting last season, Trevor Lawhorn led the Pirates offensively, batting 3-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Carter Harrell earned the win, striking out six in five innings of work. In the second meeting of the '04 season, six different pitchers combined to strikeout 15 Campbell batters. Ryan Jones finished 3-for-3 with four RBI on the day.
UP NEXT FOR EAST CAROLINA
ECU will travel to Fort Worth, Texas to face TCU in the third conference series of the season April 1-3. Game times are set for 8 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
