East Carolina heads to Houston for critical CUSA series with Rice

The Pirates and Owls will meet with first place on the line this weekend

Prior to the season, very few people would have objected if you would have suggested that Rice and East Carolina would be the top teams in the league standings at the midway point of the CUSA race.

However, while the Owls and Pirates are in that position, it has been far from smooth sailing for the ball clubs of Wayne Graham and Billy Godwin.

East Carolina (24-14, 6-3), which has suffered the loss of four players over the course of the season, has been learning how to play without its starting junior shortstop Dustin Harrington. Harrington, who was hitting .443 at the time of his dismissal, was also the team’s leading hitter.

Prior to Harrington’s removal from the Pirates’ roster, ECU had committed 32 errors in 25 games. However, since that line-up change, there have been 40 errors committed in just 13 contests—including 19 miscues in only the last four games—and the Pirates fielding percentage has plummeted to a dismal .950.

Sophomore Corey Thompson, who had committed six errors in the first 25 games as the Pirates’ starting third baseman, has committed nine since transitioning to shortstop.

Despite the Pirates’ extreme fielding woes, they’ve somehow managed a 7-6 record over that span—which includes five straight CUSA victories after a 1-3 start in league play.

One of the primary reasons ECU has escaped with wins in some of the games where it has kicked the ball around is because of the way it has swung the bats. The Pirates are hitting .333 as a team with 52 home runs.

Senior first baseman/designated hitter Kyle Roller and corner outfielder Devin Harris have long since shaken their slow starts and are having the types of seasons that were anticipated. Roller, who leads the team with his .374 mark, has nine home runs and 40 runs batted in. He is tops on the team with 16 doubles. Harris ranks on third on the club with his .348 average. He has eight home runs, 15 doubles and 37 RBI’s.

Corey Thompson’s transition to shortstop has slowed his bat. The sophomore, who played sparingly behind senior Drew Schieber last season, is second on the team with his .368 mark at the plate.

Catcher Zach Wright has earned a starting position behind the plate and occasionally in the outfield. Wright leads the Pirates with 11 home runs and is also tied with Kyle Roller for the club lead in runs batted in with 40.

On the mound, Godwin had to re-align his weekend rotation due to arm issues for Brad Mincey and shaky outings by sophomore Mike Wright leading to the need for a more solid third starter. The Pirates’ fifth year head coach moved previous mid-week starter Zach Woods (5-1, 2.96) into the Friday night spot and bumped Kevin Brandt (3-4, 3.36) into the Sunday role. Junior Seth Maness (7-2, 5.02) remained the Saturday starter. Woods has struck out 64 in 51.2 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .237 against him. Brandt hasn’t received much run support, but is limiting the opposition to a .213 mark at the plate. Maness has been hit pretty hard, but he has still managed to post victories due to receiving tremendous run support. The Pirates have scored 15, 20 and 12 runs in his last three starts.

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The bullpen is currently pretty thin and there aren’t many options available.

Rice (23-16, 8-4) had won six of its last seven prior to Tuesday night’s 7-1 loss at Texas A&M. The Owls suffered a surprising series loss in their league opener at Memphis, but have since responded to win their final three series—including a sweep of cross-town rival Houston. They are 12-4 at Reckling Park.

The Owls pitching, which is normally superb, hasn’t been bad; however, it hasn’t been as strong as usual.

Sophomore Taylor Wall (2-4, 3.95), the Friday starter, has allowed just 38 hits in 57 innings. Opponents are batting just .185 against him.

Mike Ojala (2-1, 5.14) and Abe Gonzales (4-3, 2.45) were the Saturday and Sunday starters last weekend at UCF. Ojala has pitched 14 innings and has struggled with his control as he has walked ten. The start was just the second for Gonzales, who is limiting the opposition to a .244 mark.

Offensively, star sophomore shortstop Anthony Rendon leads the team in average (.369), home runs (13) and RBI (44). Jeremy Rathjen (.336), Michael Fuda (.336) and Jimmy Comerota (.333) are also all hitting above .330 for the Owls.

This weekend’s series may likely come down to who fields better, as the Owls are a respectable .968 while the Pirates are at .950.

With Rice playing at Reckling Park and East Carolina struggling with the glove, one has to like the Owls chances of winning two out of three.