East Carolina Baseball Notebook (Weekly Recap)
March 29, 2010 | Baseball
March 29, 2010
GREENVILLE, N.C. - No. 25 East Carolina (16-8) capped of a perfect 5-0 week with a series sweep of N.C. Central outscoring the Eagles 65-7 on the weekend. The Pirates continued their hot hitting pounding out 10 home runs, scoring 87 runs and batting an impressive .419 (80-for-191). Junior Dustin Harrington led the team with a .600 (12-for-20) average with two home runs, nine RBI, two doubles and 10 runs scored.
Mar. 29 East Carolina Baseball Notebook
National Rankings: (as of March 22, 2010)
No. 25 - Rivals.com
No. 27 - Ping!Baseball
No. 29 - NCBWA
NR - Baseball America
NR - ESPN/USA Today
Current Streak: W-7
Last Week: 5-0
Mar. 23 Win vs. High Point (7-5)
Mar. 24 Win vs. N.C. A&T (15-6)
Mar. 26 Win vs. N.C. Central (30-4)
Mar. 27 Win vs. N.C. Central (15-2)
Mar. 28 Win vs. N.C. Central (20-1)
Upcoming Week:
Home vs. Elon (Mar. 30)
Home vs. UNC Wilmington (Mar. 31)
Home vs. Tulane (Apr. 2-3)
Pirate Hitter-of-the-Week
Dustin Harrington, SS, Junior
Harrington batted a team-best .600 (12-for-20) on the week with two home runs, nine RBI, two doubles, a triple and slugged a team second-best 1.100 in the Pirates perfect 5-0 week ... He recorded multiple hits in all five games and extended his current streak to six consecutive games with at least two hits ... Harrington hit homers against High Point (solo) and N.C. A&T (3-run), while driving in two or more runs in 3 of 5 games played on the week ... Scored 10 runs on the week (second-best) and at least two multiple runs in 4 of 5 games ... Recorded an extra base hit in 4 of 5 games ... Opened the week with a 4-for-5 performance with a HR and 3 runs scored against High Point ... Followed that with a 2-for-5 trip at the plate with a HR and 3 RBI against N.C. A&T ... In the weekend series against N.C. Central batted .600 (6-for-10) with five RBI and five runs scored with two walks and two sacrifice hits ... Laced second career triple in the series finale ... On the season he his batting a team-best .455 (46-for-101) with five home runs, 20 RBI and 31 runs scored.
Pirate Pitcher-of-the-Week
Kevin Brandt, LHP, Sophomore
Brandt picked up his second win of the season and improved to 2-2 on the season with a win over N.C. Central ... He fanned eight batters in five innings of shutout work ... Brandt carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning where he retired the first two hitters of the frame before giving up a bloop single through the right side to Blake Murray ... In all, he faced two batters over the minimum and threw 56 pitches ... With the win he improved to 11-4 in his career and has 106 strikeouts in 117.1 innings.
PIRATE NOTES:
Corey Thompson continued his solid play last week batting .571 (12-for-21) with 10 RBI, 10 runs and five doubles (team-best) ... The sophomore infielder collected multiple hits in all five games, drove in two or more in three contests and scored two or more runs in four games ... Tied his career-high with three hits against High Point and N.C. Central (first game) ... Scored a career-best four runs in the series opener against N.C. Central (3/26) ... Three of his final four hits in the N.C. Central were RBI doubles ... Drove in at least one run in the last six games played ... Currently owns a team-best 11 game hitting streak where he is batting .477 (21-for-44) with six doubles, a triple, 12 RBI, 19 runs scored and seven walks.
Zach Wright led the team with three home runs and 12 RBI on the week ... The sophomore catcher hit a pair of grand slams (High Point and N.C. Central) while also hitting a solo home run in the series finale against the Eagles ... He started all five games played (2/LF, 3/C) ... Currently leads the team with eight HRs, while ranking second with 24 RBI.
Trent Whitehead batted .500 (10-for-20) with a HR, four doubles and a team-best 14 runs scored ... He also drew six walks (second-best), had five RBI and swiped a pair of bases ... Recorded a career-best five hits in the series finale against N.C. Central collecting a hit in the first five innings before flying out to center in the sixth inning ... Entered the series batting .263 and finished hitting at a .318 clip ... Currently owns a four-game hit streak which includes three multi-hit games ... Has scored at least one run in seven straight games and tied his career-high with four runs in the final two games of the N.C. Central series.
Reliever Seth Simmons picked up his sixth save of the season in the Pirates 7-5 win over High Point ... He appeared in two games working 3.0 innings where he allowed one run on three hits ... With his lone save on the week, Simmons moved into sole possession of second place on the school's all-time saves charts with 17 passing former All-America Greg Bunn - now trails ECU record holder Cory Scott by six (23 saves) ... On the year Simmons boasts a team-best 2.30 ERA in 13 appearances ... He has surrendered just four runs (all earned) in 15.2 innings with 23 strikeouts, nine walks and 13 hits.
Kyle Roller currently owns an eight-game hitting streak where he is batting .429 (12-for-28) with three HRs, 12 RBI, 12 runs and 12 walks ... During this streak he has belted HRs against High Point and two against Monmouth ... Also owns four multi-hit, multi-RBI and multi-runs games, while recorded two walks in five contests ... Swiped five bases on the week including a pair against N.C. A&T and N.C. Central (career-highs).
Seth Maness (4-2) picked up his fourth straight win after allowing two runs on five hits in six full innings of work against N.C. Central ... He fanned seven batters ... Allowed two hits in the first frame and then scattered three over the next five innings and faced no more than four Eagles in an inning until he was relieved in the seventh ... In all, Maness faced 23 hitters on 82 pitches and allowed just one walk ... Maness improved his career record to 22-7 in 37 starts and has fanned 203 hitters in 243.1 innings of work, while walking just 42.
Head Coach Billy Godwin recorded his 177th win as the Pirates skipper Sunday and picked up career win No. 439 ... He currently ranks fourth on the all-time wins list at ECU and needs nine wins to move into third place passing ECU Hall of Famer Earl Smith (185).
During the week, the Pirates pitching staff allowed 18 runs (15 earned) with 53 strikeouts, 14 walks and posted a 3.14 ERA ... Jake Harris recorded his first collegiate win against High Point in a relief appearance ... Ten of ECU's 14 pitchers used allowed one or less runs in their appearance, while 12 of the 14 had multiple strikeouts.
Offensively they batted .419 (80-for-191) with 10 home runs and 79 RBI ... Forty of ECU's 87 runs and 33 of 80 hits (.446 avg.) came with two outs ... On the season ECU has scored 93 of its 213 runs with two outs (43.7 percent) ... ECU's 87 runs were the second most runs ever scored during the week, falling short of the school-record 90 runs in 2009 from Mar. 17-22 ... ECU topped the double-digit run mark in 4 of 5 games played including a 30-run performance in the series opener against N.C. Central, which was the second-most runs in school and Conference USA history (current records for both are 32 vs. Cincinnati on Apr. 17, 2004) ... With its 20-run output on Sunday, the Pirates outscored the Eagles 65-7 on the weekend setting a new school record for runs in a three-game series topping the previous mark of 60 set back in 2004 against Cincinnati.
On the weekend against N.C. Central, the Pirates belted six home runs with Zach Wright hitting a team-best two ... Six starters batted .500 or better during the series with Austin Homan leading the way with a .714 (5-for-7) average ... Homan also led the squad with five walks and slugged a team second-best 1.143 ... Both Homan and Wright led the team with eight RBI, while Thompson had seven and Chris Gosik and Devin Harris had six ... Both Wright and Gosik hit grand slams in the 30-4 win which is a school record ... Daniel Warzon (3-run) and Whitehead (solo) each hit their first home runs of the season.
