East Carolina Hosts Saint Louis In Final C-USA Series
May 19, 2005 | Baseball
GREENVILLE, N.C.--East Carolina baseball returns home after a long road trip to host Saint Louis this weekend in the final three games of the 2005 regular season. ECU (32-21, 16-11 C-USA) is coming off a stretch of nine road games in the last 14 days, including two series victories at USF and UAB. The Pirates, who have won six straight C-USA series, will look to extend the streak to seven versus the Billikens May 19-21.
East Carolina is 14-3 in its last 17 conference games including two series sweeps on the road over Louisville and UAB. Saint Louis (12-38, 7-20 C-USA) was swept this past weekend by top-ranked Tulane and have lost seven of its last eight contests.
ABOUT ECU
Eight Pirates are currently batting over .300 led by Brian Cavanaugh who is second in Conference USA with a .382 average on the season. Cavanaugh leads the club in hits (65), total bases (99), stolen bases (12), slugging percentage (.582) and on-base percentage (.464). He also ranks second with 43 runs scored and ranks in a tie for second with six round-trippers. Billy Richardson is second on the team with a .349 average while ranking third on the team with 42 runs scored despite only playing in 38 of ECU's 53 games this season. Mark Minicozzi, who tied a career-high with four RBI on Sunday in a 6-5 win over UAB, leads the club with 40 RBI despite missing seven games earlier this season with a knee injury. The junior third baseman is hitting .326 with five home runs while scoring 37 runs. Drew Costanzo leads the team with 10 homers, which is good enough for eighth in conference while his 38 walks ranks fourth among all C-USA hitters. Dale Mollenhauer has been one of the hottest hitters in the Pirate lineup as of late. The freshman middle infielder is third on the team this season with a .337 average and is tied for second with 35 RBI.
The Pirate pitching staff is anchored by right-handers T.J. Hose and Ricky Brooks. Hose leads the team with a 3.60 ERA and has a team-high seven wins thus far. The freshman right-hander is tied with Brooks for a team-high 56 strikeouts on the year. His 70 innings this season also leads ECU while his 18 appearances ties him with Mike Flye for the most on the pitching staff. The Pirates are victorious in all seven of Hose's starts this year with Hose picking up the win in the last six contests he has started. Hose is third among hurlers in Conference USA holding his opponents to a .203 batting average against him. Brooks, who has tossed three complete games, is second on the club with a 3.73 ERA and has a record of 5-4. The sophomore right-hander, who has started 10 games and appeared in 15 overall, picked up his first save of the season in a 6-5 win over UAB on Sunday. Kevin Rhodes has pitched well since moving into the starting role April 30 vs. Cincinnati. He has started the last three Saturday C-USA games and has an record of 1-0 with an ERA of 3.94 in 16 innings pitched. On the season, Rhodes is 3-1 with a 4.43 ERA in 40 2/3 innings pitched.
ABOUT SAINT LOUIS
Saint Louis (12-38, 7-20 C-USA) comes into the series against ECU having lost seven of their last eight. The Billikens have lost six straight conference games after being swept by Houston and Tulane the past two weekends. Tulane out-scored SLU 37-11 in St. Louis with convincing wins of 16-7 and 15-4 on Friday and Sunday while the Green Wave shutout the Billikens 6-0 on Saturday.
As a team, Saint Louis is hitting .265 with 22 home runs and 40 stolen bases. The SLU staff ERA currently sits at 7.32 with 273 strikeouts in 437 2/3 innings pitched.
Johnny Sweeney and Scott Peden lead the Billiken offense, tallying 76 RBI this season between the two. Sweeney is the only Billiken batting above .300, hitting at a .344 clip. The junior outfielder leads the club in hits (67), at-bats (195), doubles (14) and on-base percentage (.395). Peden has hit over half of the team's homers this season, tallying 12 thus far while all other Billiken hitters have combined on 10. The senior first baseman also leads the team in RBI (46), total bases (102) and slugging percentage (.540). Pat Steinhoff leads the team in runs with 35, Joey Guyre and Tim Landry pace the Billiken offense with two triples apiece while Patrick Valdez has stolen a team-high 14 bases thus far.
Ryan Bird, who is slated to start on Saturday, is the ace of the Saint Louis pitching staff. With 89 innings logged thus far, Bird has tossed 28 2/3 innings more than any other pitcher on the staff. The sophomore right-hander is the only Billiken hurler who has recorded double-digit starts with 13 this season. Bird, who is currently 4-5 with a 3.84 ERA, striking out 73, walking 40 while holding his opponents to a .259 batting average against him.
Eric Rohr (2-5) is the only other pitcher who has thrown at least 45 innings thus far, logging 61 1/3 in 16 appearances. B.J. Rodrigue leads SLU with 21 appearances and four saves. In 26 innings pitched, Rodrigue is 0-3 with a 5.88 and has struck out 19 while walking just 14. Lance Rhodes and ET Ratte-Delorme are scheduled to start on Thursday and Friday respectively. Rhodes is 0-5 with a 9.91 ERA while Ratte-Delorme is 1-4 with an ERA of 7.12.
ECU ALL-TIME vs. SAINT LOUIS
ECU holds a 4-2 advantage over Saint Louis in the all-time series between the two schools. The Pirates swept the Billikens last season in St. Louis May 7-9. ECU out-scored Saint Louis 38-11 in the series with Dustin Sasser, Carter Harrell and Kevin Rhodes picking up wins for the Pirates. Jamie Paige had a big day for ECU in a 15-5 win on Sat., May 8 with five RBI in a 4-for-7 performance. SLU holds a 2-1 advantage over ECU in Greenville, taking the first series between the two schools at Harrington Field in 2002.
UP NEXT FOR EAST CAROLINA
After the regular season comes to an end this weekend, the Pirates will head to Hattiesburg, Miss. for the 2005 Conference USA Tournament May 25-29. Seeding for the tournament will be determined at the conclusion of all C-USA games this weekend.
