By By KEVIN TRAVIS, Sports Editor
GREENVILLE — Fresh off a three-game sweep of Monmouth to open the season, the No. 23 East Carolina Pirates are in store for a bigger challenge this week.
The Pirates (3-0) face No. 11 Oklahoma State in a 5 p.m. game today at Clark-LeClair Stadium. It’s a little teaser for the upcoming 6th Annual Keith LeClair Classic, which will be held Friday through Sunday. Oklahoma State, St. John’s and College of Charleston join the Pirates in this year’s field.
Sophomore Sthil Sowers (1-0, 0-0 ERA), who got the win in 1 2-3 innings of relief work in last Sunday’s series finale, will start for the Pirates today.
The Cowboys are coming off a 4-0 sweep last weekend, beating BYU and Manhattan. Oklahoma State, outscoring the opposition 42-26, is hitting .313 as a team.
Neil Medchill is off to a hot start with the Cowboys. He’s hitting .500 with a home run and 10 RBIs.
Other top hitters for Oklahoma State are Kevin David (.462), Doug Kroll (.375, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs), Davis Duren (.375, 7 RBIs), Eric Walker (.333) and Dusty Harvard (.333).
Along with spending pitching, the bats were hot for the Pirates as they collected double-digit hits in each game last weekend. ECU holds a collective .365 team batting average.
Stephen Batts, the reigning Conference USA Hitter-of-the-Week, is hitting .643 with three RBIs.
Kyle Roller (.500, six RBIs) and Drew Schieber (.455, three RBIs) both belted home runs last week.
Other top hitters for the Pirates are Dustin Harrington (.455), Ryan Wood (.400), Henderson (.400, four RBIs), Trent Whitehead (.400) and Jared Avchen (.375).