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 KYLE ROLLER - east carolina university pirates
PING!BASEBALL PLAYER PROFILE
Unless you're sitting in a dinghy off the coast of some far away, lawless land, these are good days to be a Pirate. Just ask Kyle Roller, East Carolina University's gigantic, left hitting power hitter. Ping!Baseball did. We recently spoke with Roller, about how the season is shaping up for the Pirates from ECU.
 The first thing that came up was the obvious. What is a middle linebacker doing playing college baseball? At 6'1” and 248 pounds, Roller is an impressive figure in the batter's box (which he apparently can just squeeze into). But, Roller was even more “imposing” when arriving at ECU. “I played football in high school” Roller told Ping!Baseball “I got too big at ECU.” With some weight training and some continuous work on his flexibility, Roller was able to get down to a svelte 1/8 of a ton. But, don't think of Roller in the same light as that big tub of goo that's on your after-work softball team. Roller is a physical specimen, and is one of the strongest hitters in college baseball today.
So far this year, Roller and the Pirates have sailed to the Conference USA regular season title. “It's going really well. We're clicking on all aspects” Roller said. That might be an understatement when you look at some of the blowout games the Pirates have had this season (14-7 over Oklahoma State, 26-6 and 26-1 over Central Florida , and 21-1 over UNC-Asheville). The Pirates have even taken it to powerhouse North Carolina (4-0 on April 22 nd ).
The junior studying Business Management from Rockingham, NC, and 2007 Ping!Baseball All-Freshman team member has 35 home runs, and an above .300 batting average since becoming a Pirate. He was able to hone his skills as a member of the Bourne Braves in the prestigious Cape Cod League last summer. “It was awesome,” Roller told Ping!Baseball about playing in the Cape Cod League. “It was an honor. It gets you prepared for the college season.” And prepared him, it has. So far, this season, Roller has a .333 batting average, and leads his team in home runs (13) and RBI (62). He also leads his team in being hit by pitches (20), too (insert your own “big-guy-at-the-plate” joke here).
Getting into the game of baseball at the age of four, Roller's game came into its own his freshman year in high school. It only got better. Choosing ECU over the likes of Clemson and Carolina, Roller belted 11 home runs and had a .306 batting average his freshman year. He quickly became a favorite of the ECU faithful.
Ah, yes, the ECU Pirate baseball fan. “Sometimes we have more fans on road games than our opponents,” Roller told Ping!Baseball the traveling hoards (or whatever you call a group of pirates) of ECU fans takes its baseball seriously. Roller knows that. Every Monday morning chatter at the
ECU athletics fan site, boneyardbanter.com is filled with how the Pirates did over the past weekend and talk of how well they'll do against their next opponent.
Despite having a stellar career as a college baseball player, Roller is not letting visions of Mariano Rivera fastballs and day games at Wrigley Field detract him from his goal. Professional baseball can wait. Roller wants to go to Omaha, Nebraska and play in the College World Series. “Keep doing what we are doing,” Roller said, and there will be Pirates abound in Rosenblatt Stadium this June. If not, big Roller will make somebody walk the plank and go to Davey Jones' locker. Arrgh!
PREVIOUS PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS
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Previous Years
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PREVIOUS COACH SPOTLIGHTS
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2008
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