East Carolian Pirates Final '07 Rank: 33 40-23

In 2004 the East Carolina Pirates had one of the most impressive seasons in the nation, finishing at 51-13 (25-5 Conference USA) and were ranked as high as number three in the country. The next two seasons were also successful, as the Pirates completed their campaigns with over 30 wins, but were a far cry from their breakout success a few years prior. With forty wins and a second place C-USA finish last year, ECU appears to be headed back towards being a national contender. In head coach Billy Goodwin’s sophomore season at the helm the Pirates went 40-23 (14-9 C-USA), but were toppled out of tournament by Western Carolina when the Catamounts picked the perfect time to snap a 13-game losing streak against their Old North State rival, beating them for the first time in 30 years and avenging a loss in the first game of the Chapel Hill regional. The Pirates have a number of players poised to have breakout seasons which should keep ECU in contention for a Conference USA title and an opportunity to host a Regional in the post season.

What makes ECU a dangerous adversary is that they are not dependant on any one player to push runs across the plate. Last year no Pirate batted over .330 or tallied more than a dozen homeruns. Junior Stephen Batts may be the most complete player on the team. The versatile infielder Batts will enter the 2008 season on a 29-game hitting streak in which he raised his final average to .323. He also hit six homeruns and added 15 doubles and four triples for a .504 slugging percentage and stole 12 bases. Another pair of infielders who put up nice numbers in 2007 are juniors Ryan Wood and Drew Schieber. Both can play anywhere in the infield as well as produce from anywhere in the batting order. Wood hit .318 with five homeruns and 14 stolen bases and Schieber contributed a .301 average with six homers and 11 swipes. Leadoff man and centerfielder Harrison Eldridge will also be back in purple and gold. The senior sparkplug hit .295 with six homeruns and 15 stolen bases. His steal of home in the bottom of the tenth inning gave East Carolina a 2-1 victory over Southern Miss in the Conference USA Tournament. The Pirate who may make the most noise this season is big sophomore DH Kyle Roller. In just 111 at bats Roller launched 11 homeruns. He also had a .301 batting average his freshman season and finished with a .658 slugging percentage. If Roller continues to develop and make contact he should lead C-USA in homeruns in a landslide.

East Carolina’s pitching staff suffered an expected blow this fall when junior pitcher Josh Dowdy was dismissed from the team for violating team rules. Dowdy had earned a spot in the ’07 weekend rotation and finished the season with a 5-2 record and a 3.62 ERA in 74.2 innings pitched. Consequently only one Pirate with significant starting experience will return to the Clark-LeClair Stadium mound in senior T.J. Hose. While Hose hasn’t put up All American type numbers, he’s proven to be a capable, consistent star with big game potential. Last year Hose won C-USA Pitcher of the Week twice and went 6-5 with a 3.97 ERA. He led ECU in both innings (95.1) and strikeouts (70) and continued to impress over the summer, earning a spot in the Cape Cod League All Star Game, and finished the summer season with a 2.58 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 38.1 innings. Junior Bailey Daniels made the most appearances of any returning Pirate, seeing action in 27 games with five starts. For the season the righty went 4-1 with a 4.53 ERA and struck out nearly a batter an inning, finishing with 46 K’s in 49.2 innings. Another welcomed return is senior Brett Butts. Butts will have his work cut out for him if he wants to improve on his strong 2007 campaign. After transferring from Pitt Community College, he went 2-0 with a dainty 1.77 ERA and only allowed 12 hits in 20.1 innings.