East Carolinian

Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Travis Bartlett

The Sixth Annual Keith LeClair Classic may have been condensed, but ECU still had enough time to show it can compete with high-caliber teams. As part of a Friday doubleheader, the Pirates overcame a 3-0 deficit to defeat St. John's 9-7 before falling to No. 11 Oklahoma State, 7-6.

Trailing 6-4 heading into the eighth, Oklahoma State rallied for three runs and held on for the victory to bounce back from a 14-7 loss to the Pirates on Thursday.

ECU's scheduled contest against College of Charleston, as well as the St. Johns vs. Oklahoma State matchup, was canceled on Sunday.

Head coach Billy Godwin was proud of the way his team competed despite the loss to Oklahoma State.

"This tournament represents so many good things," said Godwin. "I think Coach LeClair stood for coming out with grit and fighting and playing hard and that's exactly what our club has done."

The Pirates put two men on base with two outs in the ninth, but couldn't cash in. After Brandon Henderson singled to center and Kyle Roller was hit by a pitch, Drew Schieber fouled out to right field to end the game.

"We keep responding," Godwin said. "That's a good sign of a good club. I couldn't be any more pleased with that. It just didn't fall our way today."

The Cowboys took the lead in the eighth when Doug Kroll doubled down the left field line, scoring two runs. Godwin chose to pitch around Neil Medchill, who already had two homeruns in the game. Right-hander Bailey Daniels was then sent out to replace lefty Patrick Somers.

"We always pick one or two guys that we don't want to beat us and he was the one guy," Godwin said of Medchill. "We felt better with Daniels against Kroll and that was really all it was."

Henderson led the way for ECU (5-1), going 2-for-4 with three RBI and a homerun. The senior and preseason recipient of Leclair's No. 23, found the perfect way to honor the former ECU skipper, leading a furious comeback in the seventh.

Junior outfielder Jonathan Ratledge, pinch hitting for Devin Harris, scored on a fielder's choice from Stephen Batts after singling to center to cut the Cowboys lead to 4-3. Henderson plated Ryan Wood and Batts with a three-run blast to right-center field, giving the Pirates their first lead of the game, 6-4.

"We're going to compete until the game's over," said Henderson. "We've got a good offense. We're never out of a game."

Continued...

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