The ECU
baseball team concluded its
first week of practice. The new head coach
of the Pirates, Billy Godwin, joined us live this week in the studios
of Pirate Radio to talk about the upcoming season. It has been a
crazy 6 months for him, the rest of
his staff, and the players. The good news
is, the dust has settled, and the future looks bright for ECU baseball.
If phone
calls to the coach are any
indication, interest in ECU baseball is as strong as ever. Coach
Godwin received as many calls, if not more,
than any coach we’ve had on the air with us in the past.
A source
close to the program told me
the guys are having more fun this preseason then ever before in recent
history. The attitude of the players is
great, and that can take you a long way. There
is no guarantee that ECU can get to Omaha this season, but the goal
remains the same, and anything less than that will be seen as a
disappointment by players and coaches.
In his
own words, here’s what Coach
Godwin had to say about the program:
On his pitchers and
their
health: “I would say
everybody except Jeff Ostrander, who had surgery in April, is on track
to be able to pitch in February. We just had our first two scrimmages
this past weekend with guys like Brody Taylor, Dustin Sasser and Shane
Matthews. I would say all those guys got A's. They really
look good and I was impressed with where they are right now. I
think the key now is to see how they can continue to progress and
recover.”
On
how he helps the players deal with the pressure
of past success: “Certainly our goal is to
make a regional, win the regional, hopefully win a super regional and
advance to the World Series. But I think we can't forget the
importance of the process of what it takes to get there. We can't
look and say 'we've got to make the regional for the 8th straight time'
or 'we've got to get to Rosenblatt Stadium.' Those certainly
are our goals. But there are daily goals that we've set for
ourselves. I think when you track those daily goals out, kids can
see that a whole lot easier. Sometimes you get blinded by that
big, long, broad goal. And it's such a long season. So I think if
we continue in a process of those steps, we'll eventually obtain our
goal.”
Keith
LeClair’s legacy lives on in
this program too. Sure his name is on the
stadium thanks to a classy move by Bill Clark, but it also lives on the
field. This Saturday during a sold-out
“Meet the Pirates” event, Coach Godwin will honor one player by
presenting him the number 23 jersey to wear all season. If you
did not get a ticket to the lunch, you can
still come out to the Murphy Center at 12:30pm for a free autograph and
picture session.
On
the Air:
The
broadcast schedule for the Pirates
this year will be stronger than ever. Once
again, Pirate Radio will take the lead in broadcasting every game this
season, and we will be adding our newest station Pirate Radio 930 WDLX,
to the network. This will enable Pirate
fans down east in the Beaufort and Craven County areas to hear the
games that they might have missed in the past. Josh
Spence will be back in the booth this year, plus look for Jeff Charles,
“The Voice of the Pirates”, to be bringing you the action to many games
this season also.
Opening day is
February 10th at Clark-LeClair Stadium when Maryland rolls
into town. Perhaps the Pirate Nation
can show up in force and help the team start this season off right.
Troy Dreyfus
troy@pirateradio1250.com
