Pirates Return Home, Host UTEP
March 22, 2012 | Softball
March 22, 2012
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| East Carolina Games 28-29: UTEP Saturday, March 24 | 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. ET Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium) |
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - For the first time since a 4-3 win over Hofstra on Feb. 20, the East Carolina softball team will play a home game. After 19-straight contests away from Greenville, the Pirates (10-17, 0-3 C-USA) host UTEP (12-18, 2-4 C-USA) for a three-game series this weekend. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday starting at 10:00 a.m. and finish the set Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
The first 500 fans in attendance for Saturday's doubleheader will obtain a McAlister's Mystery Gift Card. Following the on-field action Saturday and Sunday, fans will be able to receive autographs from the Pirate players and coaching staff.
The Pirates Against The Miners
East Carolina holds a 15-4 advantage in the all-time series that began in 2006 when UTEP joined Conference USA. The Pirates have swept the last three, and four of the six, series from the Miners. East Carolina's last loss to UTEP was a 4-3 setback in 13 innings at the 2009 C-USA Championship in El Paso. The Pirates are 7-2 against the Miners in Greenville, shutting them out three times and in two of last three meetings.
El Paso, Texas
A three-run fourth inning propelled East Carolina to a 6-2 victory over UTEP Saturday afternoon and gave the Pirates their second Conference USA series sweep of the season. Junior Priscilla Velasquez drove in the game-winning run in the fourth with a single up the middle. In 2011 during the three-game series in El Paso, the Pirates recorded the sweep with 1-0, 6-0 and 6-2 wins. In the opener, a fifth-inning single to center field by Chelsea Kaluhiokalani-Glackin drove in the game's only run as Toni Paisley struck out 16 and allowed just three hits. It was Faith Sutton throwing a shutout in game two as she fanned eight and scattered five hits. The Pirates scored two in the first and never looked back as Jill Jelnick, Sissy Jimenez and Kai Clark each drove in two runs. The Miners took a 1-0 lead in the finale, but three runs in the fourth and fifth innings gave ECU the sweep. Kaluhiokalani-Glackin drove in two and Priscilla Velasquez delivered the game-winning run in the fourth with a single to center.
The last time the programs met in Greenville, Paisley and Sutton limited UTEP to one run and 10 hits in a pair of 1-0 victories and a 4-1 triumph. In the opener, Charina Sumner singled to center field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and drove in Nicole Jordan with the game-winning run. Paisley limited the Miners to just one hit and struck out 12. During the second game, ECU scored all four runs in the bottom of the second as Jordan tallied two RBI with a double to right center and scored on an illegal pitch. In Sunday's contest, Suzanne Riggs played the role of hero, singling to left field with two outs to drive in Kaui Tom with the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Paisley fanned 15 in the complete-game victory.
Finally Getting A Break?
East Carolina and UTEP both enter this weekend without receiving a vote in either of the national polls. The Pirates opened the Conference USA season last weekend at Tulsa, which was receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA poll. Of ECU's first 27 games this season, 11 have been against foes ranked or receiving votes in a national poll at the time of the contest (40.7 percent).
An Offensive Improvement
In 2011, against Memphis in East Carolina's first Conference USA series, the Pirates totaled five runs in three games and batted .154 as a team. Among the starters, then-senior Sissy Jimenez led the group with a .444 batting average while no one else hit better than .167.
Last weekend in the initial C-USA action of the campaign, against a Tulsa pitching staff that entered the series with a 2.12 earned run average, the Pirates pushed across 12 runs in 22 innings (3.82 ERA) and batted .244 as a squad. Five players are batting .270 or higher, led by Riggs' .667 mark.
A Different Starting Point
Last weekend at Tulsa, East Carolina was swept in its Conference USA opener for the first time since Houston took all three games in 2004. It is just the third time since joining the league in 2002 that the Pirates have begun the C-USA campaign at 0-3. The other two times ECU was 0-3, the team finished sixth (2004) and eighth (2003) in the final regular season standings. A closer look at the Pirates' starts and finishes in C-USA:
| Year | C-USA Start | C-USA Record (Regular Season Finish) |
| 2012 | 0-3 | TBD |
| 2011 | 1-2 | 14-10 (5th) |
| 2010 | 2-1 | 16-5 (1st) |
| 2009 | 2-1 | 19-5 (2nd) |
| 2008 | 2-1 | 10-12 (5th) |
| 2007 | 3-0 | 14-9 (2nd) |
| 2006 | 1-2 | 13-11 (5th) |
| 2005 | 2-1 | 17-7 (3rd) |
| 2004 | 0-3 | 10-14 (6th) |
| 2003 | 0-3 | 5-19 (8th) |
| 2002 | 2-1 | 10-13 (6th) |
Trying To Halt A Skid
Despite winning last year's Conference USA Championship title with victories over Memphis, Houston and Tulsa, East Carolina has now lost six-straight regular-season league contests. Prior to the C-USA tournament run, the Cougars swept the Pirates in Greenville April 30-May 1, 2011. The Golden Hurricane made up for the tournament loss with a three-game sweep last weekend.
East Carolina had not lost six consecutive league tilts since 2003, when it dropped nine straight to Louisville, UAB and DePaul. The Pirates have not lost more than three consecutive league games in the same season since 2008, when they fell in five straight to Marshall and Houston. The 2002 and 2003 campaigns are the only ones since joining Conference USA in which ECU has been swept in back-to-back three-game league series.
Big Week Ends With Seven And Counting
Riggs led East Carolina with a .636 batting average, eight runs batted in, five scored, seven hits and three home runs during the Pirates' four games last week. The senior also paced ECU with a 1.545 slugging percentage and .692 on-base percentage. She drew a pair of walks and did not strike out during the four contests.
The Greenville native excelled during the Conference USA series at Tulsa, reaching base in her last seven plate appearances against the Golden Hurricane, tallying a single in her final at-bat of the series opener, going two-for-two in the second contest with a double and home run and finishing three-for-three in the third game with a long ball, walk and two singles. Her four runs batted in during the second contest were her most since recording five at UAB on April 17, 2010. In the Sunday finale, she collected a personal-best-tying three runs scored. Riggs has recorded one or more hits in nine of the last 10 games and has reached base in a 2012 Pirate-best 10 consecutive contests.
The Best In Conference USA
Following the big series at Tulsa, when counting only league games, Riggs paces Conference USA in batting average (.667) and slugging percentage (1.444) while standing second in on-base percentage (.700) and fourth in runs batted in (seven).
In all contests, Riggs ranks fourth in walks with 14 and on-base percentage at .469, sixth in home runs with six, seventh in slugging percentage at .662 and eighth in RBI with 20.
Watch Out, This Could Get Offensive
Riggs will not be the only big bat on the field this weekend as UTEP senior Camilla Carrera is second to Riggs in batting average, hitting .600 during league action. The two also rank first and second in slugging percentage in only C-USA contests with Riggs holding a 1.444-1.400 advantage.
In all contests, Carrera leads Conference USA in batting average (.465), slugging percentage (1.198), on-base percentage (.584), runs batted in (48), walks (24) and total bases (103). With the latest set of NCAA statistics, through March 18 contests, Carrera is the national leader in home runs with a Miner single-season record 19.
Going Beyond What Is Required
East Carolina played its seventh extra-inning Conference USA contest in its last 27 league tilts (25.9 percent) with a 10-inning affair last Saturday at Tulsa. The Pirates are 3-4 in such games.
Among The Nation's Best
With a pair of double plays turned during Sunday's finale at Tulsa, East Carolina lifted its season total to 12, tied with Houston for the most in Conference USA. With the latest set of NCAA statistics, through March 18 games, the Pirates stand 26th in double plays per game with 0.44.
ECU also ranks among the nation's top 30 in stolen bases, checking in 29th with an average of 1.7 swipes per contest. The Pirates have taken 46 bases, fourth among C-USA teams.
Not Quite The Same
ECU surrendered 25 runs at Tulsa last weekend after allowing only 44 during the 24 games of the 2011 Conference USA season.
The Pirates' team earned run average in league games heading into this weekend's series is 5.60 while UTEP's is 10.32.
