March 22, 2007

By Douglas Kroll

CSTV.com

	DOUG KROLL Doug Kroll is an editor for CSTV.com, focusing on baseball. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- BASEBALL 1/17: So Cool In SoCal 1/10: Starting With Not Such A Clean Slate 1/3: Closing the Gap 12/27: For Starters 12/20: Second Is Just Fine 12/13: Not Short On Talent 12/06: Stars In The Outfield 11/29: Staying Hot On The Hot Corner 11/23: First Thing Is First 11/16: Best Backstops 11/08: Engineering Perfection 11/01: Up The Coast 10/25: Sun Devils Best In Fall 10/18: Taking The Plunge 10/11: Tourney Time 10/4: Red Raider Savior 9/27: Not Fooling Around 9/20: Continuing To Right The Ship 9/13: Flying Back With The Ducks? 9/6: Same Faces, New Places 8/30: More And More Like MLB 8/23: Laying Down A Full House 8/16: No Hitch At Deadline 8/9: College Homerun Kings 8/2: Bringing The Tradition Back 7/23: Cape Cod Update - All-Star Edition 7/19: Bringing The Quack Back 7/17: Summer League Update - Week 5 7/6: A Ride On A Carousel 7/2: Summer League Update - Week 3 6/28: Omaha In Review 6/26: Summer League Update - Week 2 6/25: Second Time As Good As First 6/21: Back In The Saddle 6/20: Series On The Line 6/19: Expect the Unexpected 6/19: Planting Seeds...Again 6/18: Cape Cod Summer League Update 6/18: Cards On Their Heels 6/17: Pac-10 Showdown 6/17: Is It April Or June? 6/16: Seeds of Success 6/16: Sunday, Bloody Sunday 6/15: Final Chapter For Price 6/13: Omaha in the Cards 6/7: Big Blue Oaks 6/7: The Right Price 5/31: Go Johnnies Go 5/17: Not So Mid Anymore 5/10: In And Out 5/6: On the Road With ECU: Day Three 5/5: On the Road With ECU: Day Two 5/3: On the Road With ECU: Day One 5/3: Staying True to the Family 4/26: Having Fun With Two 4/19: Pitching Is Name Of The Game 4/12: Going Coastal 4/5: Right On Key 4/3: April Schedule Planner 3/29: Northern Exposure 3/22: East Carolina Set To Make Waves 3/8: Shedding The Blues 3/1: March Baseball Schedule Planner 2/25: Seawolves Swept in Carolina 2/24: A Loss Is, Well, A Loss 2/23: On the Road With The Brook 2/15: Florida Looks To Chomp Out Of Rut 2/9: Winthrop Winning The Tough Way 1/29: February Baseball Schedule Planner 1/28: Same Game, New Team, No Year Off 1/21: The Real All-Americans 1/19: Just One Of Those Weeks FOOTBALL 8/24: When Is A Win, A Win? 8/21: Topping Harlon's Hill Twice 8/2: Mid-American Conference Preview 8/2: Thunder and Lightning in Kalamazoo 8/2: Showing Flashes 12/16: Sweet Home Alabama 12/15: Humble Woodhead Wins Harlon Hill 12/14: Familiar Foes, Only On The Biggest Stage 12/7: Blooming in Bloomsberg 11/30: Grand Valley To Face One And Only Rival 11/15: Something New, For Newberry 11/1: Chadron's On The Map 10/28: What Can Brown Do For U-Conn 10/23: Asserting Identity 10/11: Leaf Fits Right in at West Texas 10/4: Pioneers Post Impressive Feats 9/27: Bible Belt Clash 9/20: Regaining Respect at Ashland 9/13: It's the GLFC, Not the GLIAC 9/7: Four Horse Race At Valdosta State BASKETBALL 10/23: Jayhawks, Longhorns Top Big 12 10/19: Memphis The Class Of C-USA 1/8: In The Zone, Hofstra Goes To It 12/28: Sweet Stroke For Stokes 12/05: Hofstra Wins Battle Of Long Island 11/30: Despite Loss, Great Day For Sea Wolves 10/17: CSTV's Top Five Games 10/16: Shiny Pearl in Knoxville 10/13: FSU's Thornton Still Blossoming W. VOLLEYBALL 8/23: Cardinal Comeback 8/21: Pavan Paves Her Way 8/21: Rock Stars In Diguise 8/20: Nebraska's Staying On Top M. WATER POLO 9/5: West Is The Best 9/3: 2007 Men's Water Polo Preview

It's tough to be a younger brother, but East Carolina is trying to make sure that's not the case for them for too much longer.

The state of North Carolina, in general, has become one of the newest hotbeds for baseball in the nation. Having perennial ACC powers like North Carolina and North Carolina State to contend with, the Pirates have certainly made a name for themselves in recent years. This week they are ranked No. 22 in the NCBWA poll, ahead of the Wolfpack. Having one of the most state-of-the-art facilities in the nation doesn't hurt things, either.

ECU has one of the strongest followings and most passionate fan bases out there in college baseball as well. So why not give them one of the nicest places to watch a game in the whole nation? Head coach Billy Godwin has visiting coaches marveling at the structure every time a team comes in.

"It's one of the premiere facilities in the nation," Godwin said. "We have a great fan base, as we sell 2,000 season tickets. It's a much different feeling than playing in front of 200 or 300 fans. We've gotten nothing but great responses about our facility, even the atmosphere. Pepperdine was in here a couple of weeks ago, and their kids were just overwhelmed by the environment and the atmosphere, and they had nothing but great things to say about our facility and our fans."

Junior righthander T.J. Hose says those fans can sometimes be the difference-maker in a ballgame.

"It's a great atmosphere here, and it's almost like a tenth-man per say," Hose said. "They're always in it and always pulling for us, and it's just an awesome environment here."

March 4, 2005 brought about the first pitch at Clark-LeClair Stadium, a 2-1 win against Michigan at the Keith LeClair Classic. Not only did the transformation of the former Harrington Field nearly double capacity to 3,000, it brought about $11-million in renovations altogether. Some of the amenities can't even be found at schools that constantly pave a road to Omaha each year. Here's a quick list:

·          State-of-the-art press box that features a stadium operations and writer's booth, a TV broadcast location, two radio booths and a Pirate Club (fundraising/hospitality) suite.

·          Indoor and outdoor batting cages, a VIP booth, coach's offices and player clubhouses (locker room).

·          New "Jungle" with elevated berm for additional viewing space from behind outfield fence.

So just what is that "Jungle" they talk about? It's just another great place to watch the game from, as members of the Pepperdine baseball team found out while playing at this year's Keith LeClair Classic, in between games of course.

"One of my professors was Pepperdine's host during the [LeClair Classic]," Hose said. "They actually went out to the Jungle and hung out with the fans and were rooting for us the rest of the day."

For those who don't know, LeClair essentially put East Carolina baseball on the map. As the head coach of the Pirates from 1997-2002, LeClair led the team to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, including a 43-20-1 record in his final year before relinquishing the head coaching duties due to ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gherig's Disease. 

The Pirates skipper passed away this past July at the age of 40, after a five year bout with the illness, but his legacy is just beginning. Not only does the stadium bear his name, after his death, the team has used it as even more inspiration to go out and win.

"It was definitely a great loss around here," Hose said of the former coach. "We were all down for a little bit, but I think he's been a blessing to us all season as he's been there every game that we've played. We're just going to try and keep winning and play the season out for him."

And winning they have done.

Heading into this weekend's first Conference USA action against Memphis, ECU has won ten games in a row and now sit at 16-6. Part of the reason for success has been the team's 20-game homestand, which will end next week with a midweek game against UNC-Wilmington. Building a dominant team at home is something that Godwin is certainly trying to do.

In order to be an elite team, just building dominance at home is one thing, but winning on the road is a whole other story. That is something that hurt ECU last year and kept the Pirates out of the postseason for the first time since 1998. East Carolina went just 4-15 away from its comfy confines.

"I know we didn't have a good record on the road last year," Godwin said. "But I have a whole different feeling about this club this year. I can't quite put my finger on why and what went wrong on the road last year, but that's certainly that's something that we aren't looking to overemphasize, as it has something to do with confidence. This club is a lot more mature and we're playing a lot of the guys from last year."

In the second weekend of 2007, Godwin took the Pirates out West for a showdown with up-and-coming UCLA, and despite playing well, they fell short in all three games, including a 7-6 loss in the series finale.

"First of all, we played a very good UCLA club," Godwin said. "I thought coming back, we didn't get the results we wanted out there, as we didn't come back with anything, but I thought our kids competed and played hard and our kids certainly did some good things."

As it stands right now, the Pirates are 0-3 on the road, and will see nearly a month and a half come off of the baseball calendar before wearing the grey pants when they finally travel to Tulane next weekend.

Suffice to say that Godwin and his coaching staff haven't scheduled weaklings during its elongated homestand, like some other ranked teams this time of the season. In a return visit from 2006, Cal State Fullerton came east and played a three game series against ECU. After the Pirates were swept in Fullerton a year ago (getting outscored 21-1 in the process), this year was a whole different story. 

The Pirates pummeled Fullerton's pitching staff, including roughing up last year's National Player of the Year, Wes Roemer, to the tune of 10 hits and six runs in six innings of work. They went on to completely return the favor and swept the Titans back to the Left Coast.

With Rice being the consensus favorite to not only win the C-USA championship, but the national championship in 2007, it is certainly understandable that the Pirates are also overshadowed in its conference. But don't tell that to these guys. 

"We're playing right now with some confidence, and I think our guys are extremely optimistic," Godwin said. "Our goal is to not look ahead...we kind of approach it as one game at a time. The key is to develop some momentum going into conference play...and we want to keep that going."

Not only will East Carolina have a shot to overtake the Owls at the top of the league, they will still get a shot for a "State Championship," with a home-and-home still remaining with UNC and a road game at N.C. State. 

It may not be the first school you think of when baseball in North Carolina comes up in a conversation, but it almost should be. With a stadium that other schools drool over, and a roster dotted with talent, this year, these Pirates aren't coming home without their treasure.