ECU Baseball Finishes Fall With Annual Fire of Blackbeard Challenge
December 07, 2007 | Baseball
Dec. 7, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina baseball team completed its Annual Fire of Blackbeard Challenge last week as the 2007 fall practice schedule came to an end, with Justin Bristow, Britton Cole, Bailey Daniels, Devin Harris, Austin Homan, Drew Schieber and Seth Simmons guiding the Grey team to the Third Annual Championship.
Head Coach Billy Godwin and his staff broke the squad into four groups and put them through a series of challenges that tested endurance, strength and teamwork.
"This continues to be a exciting and fun event for our team," said Godwin. "I am very please with the results that we have made individually and as a team. Coach Nate Barnes (strength and conditioning) has put together a program that our players have bought into and they have been able to see the rewards of being faster and stronger."
The first day of competition saw the teams compete in the vertical jump (Trent Ashcraft - 37.5"; team-record), broad jump (Devin Harris - 10'1), 60-yard dash (Trent Ashcraft - 6.55; team-record), 300 shuttle (Britton Cole - 45.39) and pro agility shuttle (Seth Simmons - 4.32).
On day two, the teams headed to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to participate in the stadium run. Freshman Seth Maness recorded the top time of 20:33:00, almost a full second ahead of Josh Ruhlman (21:26:00). Rounding out the top five were Seth Simmons (21:45:00), Devin Harris (21:51:00) and Trent Ashcraft (21:57:00).
Day three consisted of strength test at the Murphy Center. Sophomore Kyle Roller broke his own team-record in the close grip bench press (355). Daniels and T.J. Hose each knocked out 32 reps in the dumb-bell (60 lbs) bench press, while Harrison Eldridge recorded 38 chinups and Daniel Holder claimed first in the plate hold (50 lbs in each hand) with a time of 1:42:22.
Thursday was the tabbed as the Pirates' endurance day as each team member had to complete a five-mile run in 45 minutes or less. Simmons took home the top time (33:39:00) ahead of Ruhlman (34:57:00), while Brad Mincey (35:42:00) was third, followed by Hose (36:10:00) and Maness (36:13:00).
Final day of competition saw all four teams wake-up at 5:30 am to participate in the crucible. Each team had to complete a series of challenges in which they had to carry medicine bags and weights, pull weights on a sled and when finished had to sprint 40-yards. The team with the best time received points to be added to the previous four days events, deciding an overall team champion.
At the teams end of the semester banquet, which was held at the Murphy Center in the Jones Room, Godwin announced that Harris (197) had edged out Ashcraft (195) for the individual title. Former Pirate player and assistant coach Billy Best served as the guest speaker.
Teams in order of finish:
Team Grey - Justin Bristow, Britton Cole, Bailey Daniels, Devin Harris, Austin Homan, Drew Schieber and Seth Simmons (916 points).
Team White - Trent Ashcraft, Dustin Harrington, Brandon Henderson, Matt Laney, Sthil Sowers, Broc Sutton and Ryan Wood (895 points).
Team Gold - Bobby Fowler, Cameron Freeman, Chase Hooper, Corey Kemp, Seth Maness and Josh Ruhlman (882 points).
Team Purple - Matt Hancock, Daniel Holder, T.J. Hose, Brad Mincey, Shane Small and Trent Whitehead (848 points).
East Carolina will begin spring practice on Friday, Feb. 1 in preparation for the season opener against South Carolina on Feb. 22, 2008.
