As four long-time friends from Beaufort County took a journey unlike any other to play baseball for East Carolina University’s Club Baseball team, their dreams came true as they won the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) World Series title game in Georgia in early June.
Now Alan Swain, Dennis Butts, M.J. Mackey and Ben Fox will go down in history as members of the first ECU Club Baseball team to win their first ever National Championship.
After two years of trying to get to the World Series, this was the teams first ever appearance to the big show.
“That just makes the win that much sweeter,” Butts said. “Especially since it was against Florida State.”
Butts and Swain said when they arrived to the hotel the first night that the FSU players degraded them and kept insulting them as well.
“They said we were wasting their time because we weren’t ready for them,” Butts said.
He added that they have a speech from TCU’s coach on tape that they listen to before every game to get them motivated and the FSU players kept taunting and interrupting the speech.
“They just kept talking trash and saying how much they were going to win and how we didn’t deserve to be there,” Swain said. “And then we beat them 4-2 in the first game.”
After blazing past No. 1-seeded University of California-Santa Barbara 14-2, the Pirates went up against FSU again in the championship game and were trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning.
Mackey said the turning point in the game came in the form of a madman.
“That’s when Alan started pacing up and down the dugout and just started yelling at people,” said Fox, who is the first baseman coach. “He got mad, saying this is our World Series and nobody’s going to take it away from us.”
Swain said the guys had their heads down like they had lost the game.
“And that pissed me off and I just started yelling at people, getting them fired up,” he said. “We were only down by two runs. We didn’t make it all the way to the World Series to come in second.”
And in one inning, they did just that. ECU came back with eight straight runs, making the score 9-3.
“It was great because after Alan yelled at everyone, nobody talked,” Fox said. “Everyone was just focused and motivated. And everybody needed to hear it.”
The championship was played in Columbus, Ga. The guys said it was some of the hottest weather they not only have ever played in, but have ever been in, period.
“We had guys that were just walking up steps in the hotel and would cramp up,” Swain said. “One of our guys went to stretch out his legs and his whole body just locked up. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”
The guys said one of the absolute biggest parts of the championship win was because of their coach, Joe Caracci.
“We’ve always been a part of talented teams,” Butts said. “When we were in high school we had four coaches in four years. So we never really had that consecutive leadership. And with this program we’ve had one coach in five years and that’s how you win a national championship.”
Mackey agreed, adding that Caracci eats, sleeps, breathes and lives ECU Baseball.
“He knows all of his players, he knows what each of us can do and what our strengths and weaknesses are, and even about our personal lives,” Mackey said. “And that’s something that takes time to know. That’s something that creates a championship team.”
“We had coaches in high school who would give us promises and the next season he’d be gone,” Butts said. “And Joe’s been with us since the beginning five years ago. He stuck with the program, no matter what. And he’s a huge part of why we won and why we’re here right now. He’s a good leader and puts things into perspective on the field and off the field.”
Not only did Mackey contribute a great deal to the game-changing hits in the fifth inning to give the Pirates an overwhelming lead, he was also named the NCBA World Series MVP from his efforts throughout the course of the tournament. He was even beamed with a fastball in his elbow that the umpire said never touched him. However, his arm swelled up with minutes and he played through the pain.
“That’s how badly I wanted to win,” Mackey said. “And I couldn’t let my team down, just as they wouldn’t let me down. We made it there as a team and we were leaving as a team.”
The guys remember one of their coaches from when they were kids – Herman Ingalls – whom all of them played for at some time in their lives.
“I can’t single one person or coach out,” Mackey said. “At some point they’ve all helped us in our game and made us better. And I thank God, my parents, my coaches and our supporters back home.”
Swain, Fox and Butts said they love Beaufort County and want to thank everyone who was pulling for them.
“Even the people who wrote negative comments about us,” Butts said. “We love our haters.”
To find out more about ECU Club Baseball, log onto www.ecu.edu/crw.