Tuesday’s
loss to Coastal Carolina broke a four game winning streak for ECU
baseball, and the loss could prove to be costly. The Pirates had
previously won four in a row and things seemed to be headed in the
right direction, with the Pirates rebounding from a string of four
consecutive losses and six defeats out of seven. However, the
loss to Coastal puts the Pirates at 32-21 on the year with only three
regular season games left to get to that mystical number 35, which many
consider the key to making the field of 64 for the NCAA tournament.
What a streaky team the Pirates have turned out to be. The
Pirates recent four-game winning streak was the teams’ third such
streak this year, with the longest win streak at six games. On
the flip side, the Pirates have suffered three losing streaks at three
games or worse, with the longest at five games.
The 2006 Pirates have been a difficult team to label. ECU relied
on its deep pitching staff at the start of the year, with the offense
leaving much to be desired. Lately the Pirates have shown stellar
offense, which was proven by the team’s effort last week when ECU
scored no less than ten runs in all four wins. In fact, the
Pirates’ one-run effort in game three against Southern Miss was the
first time the team scored less than two runs since the shutout loss
the Pirates suffered against UCF pitcher Tim Bascom on April
7th.
East Carolina has been good all year long, but has had trouble putting
it all together at one time. Think about some of the losses that
could have gone the other way. Just last weekend at Southern Miss
the Pirates allowed the Golden Eagles to come back from early deficits
in the first two ball games. East Carolina also could have easily
won two out of three against Tulane, giving up the lead in the ninth
inning of game one. The Pirates lost two one run games on the
road at NC State in walk off fashion, and have lost by one run in three
other games this year.
Perhaps this team is peaking, and maybe more importantly getting it all
together at exactly the right time. The absence of TJ Hose hurts,
but he could still be used in relief. I’ve said all year long
that this team has the starting pitching and the depth in the bullpen
to win in a tournament atmosphere. Backing that up are pitchers
Brody Taylor and Shane Matthews. Taylor has emerged as the ace
with TJ out of the rotation and Brody has been excellent. Taylor
has pitched the Pirates to three complete games in his last four
appearances and has gotten the Pirates into the seventh inning in all
but one of his starts. Matthews has come on strong recently with
four straight solid outings, with the best coming last weekend against
UAB. Matthews went a season long seven innings, allowing 4 hits
and no runs. Shane’s last five decisions have all been wins.
Offensively the Pirates seem to be putting it together as well.
ECU has scored ten or more runs in eight of its last fourteen
ballgames. There were times during the season when ECU had only
one batter hitting over .300. Now the Pirates have seven. As a
team the Pirates are batting .304 and have gotten some strong
performances at the plate recently. Making the most noise of late
is Ryan Tousley, who has raised his average to a season high .291 with
a 12-game hitting streak. Adam Witter has been hot as well and
recently hit a home run in four consecutive at bats. Jake Smith
has regained his plate savvy and since missing five games with a quad
injury Smith has hit safely in nine of ten games. He is batting .476
with five home runs and 20 RBIs.
The Pirates seem to have regained their confidence and are playing
their best baseball at the right time, despite the loss to Coastal on
Tuesday. Sure the Pirates four recent wins have come against
Coastal and UAB, but there is something to be said for winning games
you should win and at a time when you almost have to. ECU
currently sits tied for fourth in the league standings at 10-11 with
Southern Miss and Memphis. ECU and Memphis begin a huge
conference USA series this Thursday at 7:30.
