If you ask any sports analyst, they will tell you the team playing the best down the stretch is very likely to advance in the post-season.  That is the rule.  East Carolina's baseball team is the exception to that rule.

The Pirates lost three in a row last week before escaping with a win at UAB on Saturday.  This just continues a season long saga of ups and downs that has somehow secured the Bucs the second seed in this week's Conference USA tournament.
 
Four different times this season, ECU has lost three or four games in a row.  After each of those losing streaks, we rattled off a winning streak that ranged from four straight wins to seven in a row and included winning 18 of 19 at one point.  We'll have to see what the fourth losing streak produces.
 
More good news, East Carolina beating UAB in the regular season finale was significant on a couple levels.  One, it's always nice to go into a tournament coming off a win.  Two, there was only one time all season when ECU sandwiched a single win between losses.
 
So that bodes well for the streaky Pirates.  If the Purple and Gold can win four in a row, like they did four times this season, they'll walk away Conference USA champions and secure a post-season bid.
 
By the way, it's a great thing that we are hosting the conference tournament this year.  We won 28 of 39 games in the friendly confines of Clark-LeClair Stadium and won just eight of 17 road games.

Put all that together and it doesn't mean we are a lock to win the tourney.  However, just  like Will Farrell in the movie "Old School," streaking may not be pretty, but it does grab your attention.
 
Chris Stansbury