No. 17 Diamond Bucs look to pull things together for rival Pack

East Carolina has dropped five of its last six games

When East Carolina and NC State met in Raleigh two weeks ago, the Pirates had won 11 of 12 coming in and they continued their winning ways with a relatively easy 14-4 win over the rival Wolfpack.

That win, which was ECU’s first over its rival in six tries, pushed the Pirates’ record to 22-5 and Billy Godwin’s club would improve that mark to 25-5 with a sweep of UAB in Birmingham the ensuing weekend.

However, since that sweep of the Blazers, the Pirates have won just one of their last six and will attempt to earn a much-needed momentum creating victory tonight against their in-state rival.

What East Carolina hopes will be the low point of the mid-season lull came on Tuesday night when it suffered a 12-7, seven-inning setback to in-state foe Campbell.

The hot-hitting Camel line-up combined with one of Pirates’ poorest pitching efforts of the season produced a 12-4 deficit that East Carolina could not overcome prior to the game being called to rain in the bottom of the eighth inning. When the game was suspended, ECU had trimmed Campbell’s lead to 12-8 and had the bases loaded with Dustin Harrington—who had already homered twice on the evening—at the plate.

However, as Pirate coach Billy Godwin said in his post-game comments, his club didn’t deserve to win the game with how it played and he had no issue with the umpires’ decision to call the contest with the degree to which the field conditions had deteriorated.

ECU starting pitcher Mike Anderson, who was making his first start and just his second appearance in two weeks, was roughed up for six runs—all earned—on six hits in the first two frames.

From that point, five other Pirate pitchers saw mound time with only Patrick Somers and seldom used walk-on Britton Cole experiencing any success. Cole, who had only seen an inning of work all year, actually went 1.2 scoreless innings, but was only credited with two-thirds of an inning after the game was called.

Six Camels registered multi-hit games and Campbell finished the evening with 17 hits.

Leadoff man Trent Whitehead, who leads the team with his .425 batting average after his 4-of-5 effort on Tuesday night, went 3-of-6 with five RBI and his only two home runs of the season in the first meeting with the Pack.

Ryan Wood and Drew Schieber also had multi-hit games in the Pirates’ blowout win. Wood has a team-high 15 doubles while Schieber is second on the squad with 39 runs driven in.

> Check out our great selection of ECU Pirates apparel & merchandise!

NC State (19-17, 7-11), which has split eight games since the first contest, is coming off a 12-0 win over Wofford College at Doak Field on Tuesday night.

The Wolfpack is hitting only .277 as a team, but it pounded out 17 hits in the triumph over the Terriers. Rightfielder Drew Poulk led the way with his 3-of-5, two home run, seven RBI performance. Shortstop Dallas Poulk and designated hitter Pratt Maynard also had three hits each. Maynard, who played left field against ECU, had two doubles against the Pirates and was one of two NCSU players with multi-hit games. He is tied for the team lead in home runs (5) while also being tops in RBI (30) and doubles (10). Drew Poulk also has five round trippers and is second on the club in RBI (27) and doubles (9).

While neither the Pirates nor the Pack have announced their starters on the mound, both coaching staffs will likely choose to use multiple pitchers for an inning or two each. East Carolina used five the first time with four pitchers going an inning each in relief of Brad Mincey. Meanwhile, NC State opted to use ten pitchers and none went more than 1.2 innings.

Final Prediction and Analysis

Due to the horrendous pitching effort against Campbell, East Carolina may very well use some of its weekend starters and top relievers in a limited role against NC State.

With the Pirates probably throwing their better arms, look for them to defeat the less potent Pack and capture their first win against NC State at Clark-LeClair Stadium since April of 2006 when they beat the 11 th-ranked Wolfpack, 2-1, in 13 innings.

It’ll be closer than the first meeting, but the Pirates will have a little too much offense for Pack.

East Carolina 7 NC State 4