By Michael Prunka

For The Washington Daily News

 

East Carolina is making a strong case to be recognized as the best baseball program in the state of North Carolina. Even though the Pirates still have one last in-state game versus High Point, they’ve been relatively dominant over most other local opponents, including North Carolina and North Carolina State.

Just recently, ECU took the regular season series against UNC for the first time since 1994, with both games being decided by one run. Tuesday’s game, which was played in Chapel Hill, was a 1-0 victory highlighted by the Reid Love’s complete-game shutout.

“It feels good (to sweep Carolina),” said head coach Billy Godwin. “It’s been a tough road in my tenure. Coming in here and winning is very good. North Carolina has got a good club. (Manager) Mike Fox has done a great job. Probably, arguably, the best college program in the last 10 years. It’s special. It’s special to our guys and we’ll enjoy this one.”

A week before, the Pirates claimed a 3-2 win over the Tar Heels. Love also played a part in that game by giving up seven hits and an earned run in 4.2 innings of work. Ryan Williams threw the last 4.1 innings, giving up just two hits and an unearned run.

ECU earned a pair of midweek wins against in-state opponents in the two weeks prior to that first UNC win — one 8-5 decision over UNC-Wilmington and another 7-0 walloping of N.C. State.

Even the out-of-state players have come to realize what wins over local adversaries like UNC and N.C. State mean to ECU fans. Love, a Dunnellon, Fla. native who transferred from St. Johns River Community College this year, realizes how much pride there is in Carolina baseball.

Regardless, the goal hasn’t changed since the beginning of the season. The objective was never to be North Carolina’s best baseball club. The Pirates have always kept their focused aimed at winning the Conference USA championship.

“(It’s big) for our seniors,” Godwin said, “to go out and beat North Carolina and N.C. State in the same year, but our goal is to win a league championship. We’ve still got that before us. It’s good that you play in such an elite baseball area. Midweeks are as tough as the weekends sometimes. It shows a lot of character on our guys’ part to come over here and get that done.”

With that said, ECU dives right back into conference play. The Pirates have three more league series before the season’s end. They’re currently in fourth place and will be fighting for a higher seed throughout the final nine league games, which starts with Florida International this weekend in Greenville.